Ponies of the military 2 A new adventure
by garnetfrog
Summary: It has been ten years since the Civil war ended and Equestria is at peace. The children of several of the war heroes decide that they want to explore the ever free forest one day. None of them were prepared for what they found in the dark and mysterious forest or for what was found in that dark, uninviting crevice.
1. Chapter 1 reunion

**Jonathan is a type of apple, you'll know what I'm talking about once you start reading.**

The land of Equestria was at peace. The civil war that occurred nearly ten years ago was a thing of the past. Equestria rebuilt the ruined cities and had new trading partners in Prance and Germaneigh. Everything was as it should have been.

Fluttershy jumped as somepony knocked at the door. "I wonder if that's Applejack or Rarity…" Quick Shot smiled at her. "Well we won't know until we answer the door." He rolled his wheelchair over and opened it. "Ace! Good to see you, come right on in." He rolled to the side to allow Ace passage. "Good to see you too Quick Shot, and you Fluttershy." He sat down at the table and thanked Fluttershy when she brought him a cup of tea.

Another knock on the door revealed Maelstrom and Applejack. Their son, Jonathan, was hiding behind them. He had a light yellow coat with bright green eyes. His mane was light green. "Hello Maelstrom, Steam's not here yet. Hello to you too Applejack." Quick Shot got out of their way as they walked inside. "Well howdy Fluttershy! How are you?" Applejack and Fluttershy went to talk somewhere else. Jonathan ran to Lily's room to greet her.

A while later Steam and Rarity arrived. "Ah there you are Steam, Maelstrom's waiting in the other room, good to see you again Rarity." They nodded and passed him into the house. Quick Shot looked back at them and noticed that Rarity looked like she was getting pregnant. Or fat, he couldn't tell.

Everypony was chatting in the dinning room when there was a knock on the door. Fluttershy answered the door this time. She squeaked in surprise when she saw a pony in full body armor standing on the porch. He wore a saber at his side and was holding his helmet in one of his hoofs. "Sorry to scare you Fluttershy, Shinning insists I wear this around for some reason." He smiled at her. She nodded and smiled. "It's ok Hawkeye; I just wasn't expecting to see you." He nodded and stepped inside. "I'm on vacation for a while and thought I'd stop to see Quick Shot." He looked at the ponies around the table. "Well hello there." He said.

Lastly Aqua and Emerald arrived. Their son and daughter, Tide and Rose, ran off to Lily's room as well. Tide was a light blue color with a dark blue mane while Rose was a dark red color with a light red mane. Quick Shot led them inside and gave them a seat at the table.

"Hello Aqua, how have you been?" She smiled at him. "I've been good, what about you?" He thumped his chest. "Heart's still giving me trouble. Other than that and the fact the doctors won't allow me to eat sweets anymore I'm fine." They all laughed. "Tide and Rose seem to be healthy." Commented Fluttershy. Emerald nodded. "Tide recently got his cutie mark as well; you probably didn't see it when he rushed passed." Applejack shook her head. "Well shoot; that makes two 'cause Jonathan just recently got his!" They talked for a while then Rarity turned to Hawkeye and Ace. "What about you two? Don't you have a special somepony?" Ace shook his head and Hawkeye grinned evilly. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't." He said.

"Who is it?!" Rarity asked. "Is it somepony we know?" She leaned closer excitedly. "Maybe she is, maybe she isn't." He said. Applejack laughed at him. "You gonna tell us or are we gonna have ta force it out of ya?" He shook his head smiling. They spent the next half hour trying to guess who it was.

**Meanwhile is Lily's room**

"Hiya! I haven't seen you three in a long time!" Lily said excitedly. Lily looked at the three others. "Tide! Jonathan! You go your cutie marks!" She exclaimed. They nodded their heads smiling and revealed them. Jonathan's cutie mark was a red apple with a leaf on top. Tide's was an anchor with the rope twisting around it.

"What do they mean?" Lily asked. "Mine's jus the cutie mark ya get when ya work on an apple farm. But it's unique though." Jonathan said. Tide sat down on the floor. "Mine means I'll be a sailor when I'm all grown up!" He said proudly. Rose looked down at the floor. "I don't have my cutie mark yet." Lily tried to cheer her up. "Don't worry, neither do I but I'm sure we'll get them real soon!" She nodded cheered up a little.

"So what should we do?" Lily asked. They all thought a bit. "I know! We could explore the ever free forest!" Exclaimed tide. "Yeah! That sound like fun!" Said Lily. Jonathan looked at the door nervously. "Ah don't think our parents would let us…" Lily thought for a bit. "What if we don't tell them exactly where we're going?" She asked slyly. "But we could get in trouble!" Complained Rose. Tide looked at her annoyed. "You're so whiny!" He said.

"Come on Rose, we'll just explore a little and come right back!" Said Lily. Jonathan nodded his head in agreement. "I… I don't… well… I guess you're right." She said. They nodded and walked out of Lily's room. "Mom. We're going out to play!" Lily called out. "Ok, just stay away from the ever free forest." She called back. "As I was saying I've been craving the strangest things lately!" Rarity continued. The four of them walked out of the house and snuck around back. "Come on! We should hurry so we can get back before we're missed!" They ran to the ever free forest.


	2. Chapter 2 the lights

Hawkeye was looking out the window so he saw when the four ran into the ever free forest. He stood up from the table. "I'm sorry, I think I should be going now. Ace, would you please come with me, there's something I'd like to show you." Ace stood up confused. "Um, sure Hawkeye, I guess…" They walked out the door.

"Those idiots just went into the ever free forest." Hawkeye said once the door was closed. "Well we should tell the others!" He exclaimed. "No! That will only cause panic. We'll go after them ourselves and tell them once we've got them back here." Ace nodded his head.

"Shouldn't we ask Quick Shot to join us?" He asked. Hawkeye looked at him funny. "Oh right. Sorry, wasn't thinking there…" Ace said as he remembered Quick Shot's condition. They walked off to the ever free forest.

**Deeper in the forest**

"Wow! Look at this!" Lily was pointing at a tunnel in the underbrush. "Let's go in there!" The others agreed so they started to crawl through the underbrush. "It's really dark in here." Rose complained. "Oh quit complaining! I can see a light at the end!" Lily said. They emerged on the other side to find ruins of a very big building.

"Whoa…" Tide said in awe. "I wonder what this place is." They walked around. The structure was falling apart with ivy and all kinds of mosses growing on the stone. There were archways and statues of strange creatures that walked on two legs. The walls of the old building had large cracks and were crumbling. They climbed around debris until they were inside.

"This place must have been huge!" Exclaimed Jonathan. His voice echoed down the ruined halls. "Is this the old castle aunt Twilight was telling us about?" Asked Rose. Tide rolled his eyes. "She's not actually our aunt, you know that right? No, I don't think this is the castle." Rose pouted and sat down.

"Hey! Look at this!" Lily called out. She was pushing some vines out of the way to reveal some stairs. They all walked over and looked down. "It's really dark down there… I bet there's treasure!" Tide said excitedly. "Yeah! Let's go look!"

They carefully made their way down the stairs. "I can't see any- Oof!" Lily smacked into a wall at the bottom. She shook her head and looked around. To her left she could see some strange lights. "Hey, we should check that out!" The others nodded though no pony could see.

**Outside the ruins**

"The hoof prints lead here." Ace said. He pointed at the ruins. "They probably went inside there." Hawkeye nodded and started making his way through the rubble. They looked around once they were inside. "Where could they have gone?" Hawkeye noticed the vines. He walked up and parted them. "Maybe they went down here?" Ace shrugged and they walked down into the darkness.

They could hear voices when they reached the bottom. "Tide! Rose! Lily! Jonathan! Is that you?" He called out. The talking stopped. They started walking in that direction. They noticed lights up ahead. "Do those lights look familiar to you?" Hawkeye asked. "Yeah." Ace said nervously. He remembered back to when the helicopter was investigating lights just like this over the Bermuda triangle.

They entered a large room and saw four very guilty looking ponies. "We're really sorry Mr. Hawkeye, we just wanted to go exploring. He nodded at them and walked over to the far wall. There was an archway with multicolored lights shimmering in between the pillars. "This is definitely what we saw that day." Hawkeye said. Ace nodded. The ponies looked at them confused. "What are you talking about?" Asked Lily. Hawkeye ignored her and touched the shimmering lights. He disappeared in a flash.


	3. Chapter 3 a new discovery

Mary sighed in boredom as she dusted off the pot. She set it aside when she finished. She picked up a stone figure and started dusting it off. Her job in the ruins was boring. Mary's crew had been selected to research the east buildings in the ruins for signs of early civilization. So far they had found really strange writing and carvings of humans, humans with wings, humans with a horn on their heads, and one carving of a human with both wings and a horn. They assumed that the one with both wings and a horn was a god that was worshiped by the early people. She finished dusting the figurine and set it aside. "We're headed back now; you can come when you've finished your work." One of her colleagues said as he walked by. He had a thick Scottish accent. She sighed and picked up a broken jug.

She dusted for nearly an hour longer before she finished. She stood up from her table and stretched. "Well, now that that's done…" She gathered her tools and started walking down the ruined halls. She glanced down a hallway and noticed a strange light coming from around the corner. "That's weird." The hall way was blocked off as dangerous but she ignored it and went down the hall anyway. At the end she turned and found herself in a room with an archway at the very back. The light was coming from in between the arches.

She examined the pillars and found more of the strange writing and also, to her surprise, English. She didn't have time to read it before a flash blinded her. She fell to the ground stunned. "Whoa!" She heard a voice say. When her vision cleared she saw a man in a suit of armor and what appeared to be a flight suit on under it. He looked down at himself. "Oh hey! My flight suit!" He smiled and looked around the room until he saw Mary sitting on the ground.

"Hello. My names Hawk- I mean, my name's Shane Rowell… Guess I can use my human name again." She stared at him in surprise. "Shane Rowell?" She asked. "You wouldn't happen to be one of the Blackhawk crew members that disappeared all those years ago, would you?" He nodded his head and extended his hand. "Yes, that would be me. She took it and he pulled her up. "But you disappeared over the Bermuda triangle! How did you end up in Ireland?" He looked around startled. "Ireland?"

**Equestria**

They stared at the portal in wonder. "Where'd Hawkeye go?" Jonathan asked nervously. Ace smiled. "I bet I know. Come on, we're going home." He ushered them toward the stairs. "But what about Hawkeye?" Asked Rose. Ace smiled. "I'll come back for him once you four are safe at home." They groaned. "But I wanna come too!" Lily complained. Ace smiled. "No, I think you should stay here." He said. "In Equestria I mean."

He guided them into Fluttershy's house. "Where have you four been?" Asked Fluttershy worriedly. She flew over and took Lily in her arms. "They've been exploring in the ever free forest." Ace said. Fluttershy gasped. "But I told you not to go in there! Are you ok, are you hurt?!" She looked over them frantically. Quick Shot rolled over. "Lily! You know better than to disobey your mother!" She hung her head in shame.

Ace walked over to Quick Shot. "Hawkeye and I found something you might want to see." He said. "Speaking of which; where is Hawkeye?" Asked Rarity. Ace shook his head. "He's still in the forest. Come on Quick Shot, You've got to see this!" Fluttershy stepped in between them and the door. "Absolutely not!" She said fiercely then she cringed a little and became shy again. "I mean, please don't go. I wouldn't like it if you went."

Quick Shot wheeled over to her and hugged her. "Don't worry, a quick look and we'll be back before you know it. We'll be fine." She nodded. Sadly and hugged him back. They went out the front door and made their way into the forest.

Ace had to carry Quick Shot over the rubble and into the ruins, but they eventually found themselves in the room with the portal. "Is that?" Quick Shot asked. Ace nodded. "I think so. They both entered the light at the same time.


	4. Chapter 4 quick decision

Mary and Hawkeye were sitting in her tent chatting. "That's not possible! At least it shouldn't be…" Hawkeye nodded his head. "That's what I thought at first. I thought I hit my head really hard or something but it's true." She leaned back in her chair stunned. He looked around the tent. "By the way, what year is it?" He asked. "It's 2022, why do you ask?" She took a sip of tea from the cup on the table.

"I was just wondering." He looked at his cup of tea and took a sip. It tasted very bland compared to the food in Equestria so he scrunched up his face in distaste. He set the tea down. "So, could you fill me in on everything I've missed, you know, important events?" She nodded her head and set her tea on the table. "Well not much important has happened. About the most important I can think of is we landed three men on mars." She said. Hawkeye gasped. "Seriously?! That's incredible!" She nodded her head. "The mission was launched five years ago; they brought samples of rocks and set up a dome of some kind. They're planning on launching a second mission to plant trees there and set up a base." Hawkeye smiled and shook his head. "That's amazing!"

Hawkeye stood up after a while of talking. "I should probably head back before I'm missed." He said. Mary looked at him sadly. "Already? But there's so much I want to ask you about!" Hawkeye shook his head. "Sorry but I've got certain duties to perform back there. I wish I could bring you, but you'd be missed here." She scowled at him. "That didn't stop you from going." She stood up so that they could look each other in the eyes. Hawkeye glared back at her. "I didn't have a choice! If I had one I would have stayed here on Earth!" They were interrupted by some shouting. "What now?" Asked Mary in annoyance.

They walked outside and found four of the archaeologists arguing with a man in a green flight suit and another man with the same suit in a wheel chair. Hawkeye grinned. "Alex! Daniel!" He called out. Every one looked at him in surprise. One of the archeologists looked at Mary angrily. "Did you bring these three here?! No one is allowed in the dig site without authorization!" He yelled at her. The two of them walked over. "Oh shut up Terry!" She said to him.

Hawkeye filled the other two in on the mars landing while Mary spoke with the other archeologists. "They need to leave right now! How the hell did the one in the wheelchair get here anyway!?" Terry whispered to her fiercely. "Look, if you knew what I knew about those three you wouldn't hesitate to let them look around!" Terry glared at her. "Would you mind filling us in then?" He tapped his foot impatiently. "No! I don't want to!" She marched away from them and stopped in front of the three. Ace and Quick Shot were talking excitedly about the mars mission. "Hello, I heard Shane say that you're Alex and Daniel? Where's Chris? Didn't he go down in the helicopter as well?" Alex nodded. "Yeah, he went down with us, but there was this war…" He trailed off.

"Well I don't have any friends or family that would miss me too much. I want to come with you three back to… where ever it is that portal leads!" Hawkeye shook his head fiercely. "No! You said you had friends and family, they will miss you!" The three of them walked off toward the ruins. "We've had fun being human again but we really should be going back now." Mary followed them.

There was another argument in front of the portal. They stood arguing for nearly five minutes. The floor started to rumble. "What? What's going on? An earth quake?!" Mary nodded her head. "They've been happening frequently, but they're small and end after a couple moments." The shaking got worse and rocks started falling out of the ceiling. "Whoa! It's getting worse! Quickly! Into the portal!" Quick Shot and Ace went through the portal. Hawkeye thought in frustration, then grabbed Mary and pulled her into the portal. The ceiling collapsed as soon as they touched it.


	5. Chapter 5 welcome to Equestria

"Everypony alright?" Asked Hawkeye as he got up off the ground. "Pony? Don't you mean bod…" She looked at the three of them. "Holy shit! You're horses!" She exclaimed. Hawkeye laughed. "Technically we're ponies, and so are you. Well, actually you're a Pegasus." He said. Mary looked down at herself. She was a light yellow Pegasus with a black mane with grey streaks in it. She was still wearing her pith helmet and her green collared shirt. She looked at her legs and saw a picture of a compass on her flank.

"What's this little picture on my flank?" Ace and Quick Shot headed for the stairs while Hawkeye explained. "That's called a cutie mark, it shows others what your special talent is. For example, mine is the private symbol which means I'm a soldier." She nodded her head and followed him toward the stairs. Behind them the portal wavered and blinked out of existence.

**Fluttershy's house**

Fluttershy almost knocked Quick Shot out of his chair hugging him when he came through the door. "Oh I was so worried the entire time you were gone!" Ace shook his head in laughter as he went through the door. Everypony had left while the three of them were gone leaving Lily and Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked up as Hawkeye and Mary walked through the door. She hid behind Quick Shot at the sight of Mary. "W-who's that?" She asked timidly.

"We ah… found her in the ever free forest so we brought her back here." Fluttershy nodded. "She looks sort of familiar." Hawkeye saw Fluttershy hiding behind Quick Shot. "It's all right Fluttershy, she's not going to bite." He laughed a little. "This is just incredible! How was this place built? Ponies don't have hands!" Mary mumbled while looking around. Fluttershy timidly walked over to her and held out a hoof. "My na…" She trailed off. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Fluttershy kept looking at the floor nervously. "My name is fl…" Mary looked at her confused. "Are you feeling well? Do you need a doctor?" Ace rolled his eyes. "Her name's Fluttershy, she's just really shy around strangers." Mary nodded. "Oh. I see. I'm-" Hawkeye cut her off. "Hey! I need to speak with you a moment."

He pulled her outside. "What was that?!" Mary asked indignantly. "You can't tell her your real name, it will sound weird. For example I have to use my nick name, Hawkeye, because no pony has a human name. Like Fluttershy. So come up with a fake name." She nodded slowly. "How about Fossil?" She asked. Hawkeye nodded his head. "Sure, whatever, now let's go back inside."

Inside Fluttershy was feeding her various animals. "Hello Fluttershy, Hawkeye interrupted me before I could tell you my name, I'm Fossil." She extended a hoof. Fluttershy took the hoof hesitantly and shook it. "Well it was nice meeting with you Fluttershy, but I think I should be heading back to Canterlot. Ace, would you show Fossil around town?" Ace nodded his head and stood up from the couch he was sitting on.

**Ponyville**

Ace led fossil into town and showed her the various places. He brought her to Twilight's library. Ace knocked on the door. He instantly heard muffled voices and the sound of a door banging closed. A moment later Twilight opened the door with a forced smile. "Hello Ace, is there something I can help you with?" He looked at her startled but regained his composure quickly. "This is Fossil, I was just showing her around town. Do you have a map of Equestria?" Twilight nodded and slammed the door in their faces. A moment later she reappeared with a folded up map. "Here, just give it back when you're done with it! Good bye!" She closed the door on them again.

The two of them stood in shock for a while. "What was that all about?" Ace wondered out loud. He opened the map on the door step and pointed at Ponyville. "This is Equestria, we're here in Ponyville. Hawkeye is the General of the Equestrian army, he lives here in Canterlot." She nodded her head. "A lot of these cities are like ones back in America only spelled differently." He nodded his head. "Yup, I've been to every single one of these cities. I'll tell you about that later." He folded up the map and knocked on the door again. "Oh for the love of-!" He heard from inside followed by another door banging closed. Twilight opened the door. "What now?!" She almost yelled at them. Ace looked behind her into the library and noticed a bronze helmet sitting on the center table. She moved in front of his gaze. "If you're done with that map then give it back and leave!" He held it out and she snatched it from his grasp, slamming the door on them a third time. Ace stood at the door way in shock.


	6. Chapter 6 job hunting

**Because of school I may only be able to post five or six chapters a week. Depending on how much homework I have I'll try to submit one every night.**

Once back inside Twilight made sure the two ponies went away before getting Hawkeye out of the closet. "Coast is clear." She said. Hawkeye walked out of the closet shaking his head. "Why are we being so secretive about this? All we do is talk and or read." He said. Twilight smiled at him. "My brother would have a heart attack if he found out, that's why." Hawkeye looked at the clock on the wall. "Well unfortunately I should start going back now. It was nice to talk with you again." He walked to the back door. Twilight intercepted him. "When are you going to be back in Ponyville?" She asked. He shook his head. "I don't know, I'll write to you when I do." She nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "Good bye." She said. He smiled and walked from the tree.

**Ace and Fossil**

"First things first, we need to find you a place to stay." He thought for a bit. "I suppose you could stay with me above my Dojo." He said. She looked at him trying to suppress giggles. "You run a Dojo?" She asked. "What? I only call it a dojo because I can't remember what my training officer called the place we learned hand to hand." She shook her head with laughter. "Whatever Sensei." She bowed mockingly. "Staying there would be fine.

"Ohmygosh!" They heard from above them. A moment later a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane landed in front of them. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" She yelled jumping up and down in excitement. "Rainbow Dash! Use your words!" Rainbow Dash ignored Ace. "You're Daring Do! Twilight said it was a fictional book but I knew you existed!" Fossil stared at her in surprise. "I-I'm sorry?" She asked. Rainbow Dash held out a book. "You're Daring Do! Like in the book! I knew you existed!" Fossil's mouth twitched. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about, my name is Fossil. I'm just an archeologist."

Rainbow Dash continued to jump up and down excitedly until Ace cut in. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, you have the wrong pony. Fossil here is from where I'm from. I've known here long enough to know she hasn't done anything worthy of being in a book." Fossil looked at him in surprise. "I resent that comment!" She exclaimed. Rainbow Dash stopped jumping up and down slowly. "You mean, she's not Daring Do?" She looked at her sadly. "Sorry Rainbow." He said. She looked down at the ground in embarrassment.

Rainbow Dash flew off leaving the two of them alone. "Well now that that's over with we need to find you a job. What are you good at?" He asked. They started walking to his house. "Well I am an archeologist. Are there any of those in Ponyville?" She asked. He shrugged. "I have no idea." They stopped in front of his house. "You should go find Mayor Mare. She would know if any Archeologists are needed." Fossil nodded her head. "I wish I could join you but class starts in ten minutes and I need to get ready." She nodded and watched him walk through the front door.

Fossil knocked on the door of the Town hall and stepped back as a tan Pony opened the door. "May I help you?" Fossil nodded. "Ace said I should talk to you. I'm an archeologist and I was wondering if there is any need for one around here." The Mare smiled at her. "We don't need an Archeologist here in town, but I've heard there is need of one in Canterlot." Fossil nodded her head. "How far is it to Canterlot?" She asked. The mayor thought for a moment. "About a three hour walk up the road or an hour by train." She said. Fossil nodded. "Thank you very much." She walked away and the mayor closed the door.

Fossil was going to tell Ace about going to Canterlot but he seemed busy. When she opened the door he was standing in front of a room full of ten ponies showing them different punches and kicks. She closed the door and started walking. About halfway there she realized she had no idea who to talk to about the job. She stopped and considered going back and asking but continued walking instead. Fossil walked into the city. All the buildings looked fairly new with bright paint and wood that hadn't faded due to the elements yet. Most of the ponies she saw were unicorns and pegasi all dressed in very fancy clothing. A lot of them looked at her in distaste.

"Hey you! What are you doing here!?" She heard. Behind her was a unicorn in a business suit. He walked up to her. "The Archeology team meeting started almost ten minutes ago! Why aren't you there?!" He yelled at her in anger. "I'm sorry sir but I'm not part of the Archeology team, I was actually here looking for that job. If there are any openings left I'd like to join." He relaxed a little and looked her over. "You're hired; now please follow me, quickly!" He walked off impatiently. She followed him in surprise. "Don't you need to see my previous jobs or know what college I graduated from?" Fossil asked confused. "No. You obviously know what you're doing else you wouldn't be looking for a job in archeology." He led her to a building and opened the door. "Just find a seat and sit down!"

Fossil looked around and saw five ponies looking at her. They were all wearing a pith helmet and a similar green vest. She sat down in one of the chairs. "I just hired her. Carry on." The unicorn said then left. The unicorn next to her extended a hand. "Hey, I'm Bone, welcome to the team." She shook his hand. "I'm Fossil, pleased to meet you." The others introduced themselves as Clay Pot, Clay Bowl, Stone Relic, and Digger. Clay Pot and Clay Bowl were twin pegasi with the same brown clay colored coat and dusty brown hair. Stone Relic was a dark grey unicorn with a nearly black mane. Digger was a Unicorn with a pale green coat and dark green mane. Bone was very light grey with a bright white mane.

Once introductions were done Digger went back to showing the team the dig site and going through safety procedures. Their dig site was a very large crack in the ground that had opened from a recent earthquake. Apparently a filly had fallen into the crack and discovered a huge carved city. Fossil nodded as he talked to show she was listening. They were supposed to learn as much as they could about the city in two weeks and report their findings to the princesses. Digger gathered up the maps. "All of our equipment is already at the dig site along with three five spares of everything. Fossil, you'll have to use some of the spare tools. Everypony got that?" Everypony nodded. He nodded and everypony started walking toward the doors.


	7. Chapter 7 a strange feeling

The six of them made their way out of Canterlot and down the path. After a while of walking the group turned off the road down a side path that led very close to the edge of the ever free forest. Bone looked at the forest nervously every once and a while they walked. They stopped in front of a very large crack in the ground. A couple of tents were set up a little ways from the edge. "Seeing as we have one more member than we were originally planning the Clay sisters will have to share a tent." They both nodded their heads and went to one of the tents. Bone and Stone Relic went to their tents.

Digger turned and smiled at Fossil. "Well, get yourself settled in. Tomorrow Stone and I will go into the city to make a crude map of it. Meanwhile you should start a journal." Fossil looked at him confused. "Why should I start a journal?" She asked. "To keep yourself sane. Gives you something to do on your off time, helps you wind down a little after working in the dark so long." She nodded her head. Digger turned and walked off to his tent.

In Fossil's tent was a sleeping bag, a lantern, a box of matches, a blank journal, and a feather pen. She opened the journal and began writing. _'I suppose I should start by writing my name though I can't imagine why that would matter. It's not like any pony is going to read this. Well my name is Fossil. We just arrived here in camp and things are looking pretty good. The weather is nice and not too many bugs are out, it's overall a very nice day. Stone and Digger are making a map of the underground city tomorrow so I guess I'll just be relaxing and getting to know the others on the team. I'm very excited about this dig.'_

The next morning Digger and Stone repelled down into the darkness with some sheets of paper and some pens. Fossil could see the light of Stone and Digger's horns glowing at the bottom faintly. She watched the light move around for a while before returning to the camp where the remaining three were sitting and chatting. She took a seat on the ground across from Bone.

"Hello Fossil, how are you?" Clay Pot smiled at her. "I'm a little impatient. I want to see the city soon!" She responded. Bone laughed. "Me too! I suppose it will be safer with a map though. Clay Bowl laughed. "I'm sure we'd eventually find our way out if we got lost!" They all laughed. "So where are you from Fossil?" Clay Pot asked. "I'm from Philadelphia." She said. Bone laughed. "That's a weird way to pronounce Fillydelphia!" Fossil mentally face hoofed. _'I need to be more careful about what I say.' _

The conversation lasted until nearly dinner when the two unicorns came back up. They were both excitedly talking and pointing to areas on the maps they had made. Each pony was given a map and was assigned a team of two. Bone was paired with Fossil. They each said they understood, ate dinner, and went to bed. Fossil took out her journal. _'Day 2 of the dig was uneventful. I spoke with the others at length. They're all very nice. Still can't wait to start the expedition. Before coming to my tent I went and looked down into the crack. I got the creepiest sensation of something watching me. I bet I'm just tired. But it still freaks me out a little. I'm sure it's nothing and it will go away as soon as I'm working.'_

**20 years in the future**

Rose picked up the old book and brought it over to where Lily, Jonathan, and Tide were sitting. "My mother showed me this old journal once. It's the best information any pony has found about the events that took place at that giant crack in the ground. You know the one that's been sealed off?" The others nodded their heads in fascination. "How did your mom get a hold of that?" Tide asked. His voice was deep and slow. "She was part of the rescue team along with Uncle Steam, Uncle Ace, Uncle Hawkeye, and Aunt Twilight." Jonathan laughed. "Yer still callin 'em uncle and aunt? They ain't related to you in any way!" Rose frowned at him and opened the old journal. "The first couple of entries are kinda boring." She read them to them aloud.


	8. Chapter 8 tricks in the dark

The next morning came with birds chirping and a bright shinning sun. Fossil woke up and got out of her sleeping bag. She exited her tent and noticed the others were doing the same. They each ate their breakfasts and strapped on their tools. They met in front of the crack.

"This is our first day of excavating; the three teams will be going to different locations in the city. Me and Stone will be searching through what we assume is a large area of houses. The Clay sisters will be searching the large building near the center of the city; it appears to be some kind of place of worship. Bone and Fossil, I want you two to search the very large domed building near the edge of the city." Digger explained. They each took out their maps and marked where they would be going and the route to get to it.

"I want Everypony to be out of the site before it gets dark. If there are no questions then let's get going." He and Stone repelled down the side of the crack while the Clay sisters flew down into the city. Bone had to wait until Stone and Digger were off the rope to start repelling down. Fossil glided down with him.

At the bottom Bone made his horn glow and they started off toward the domed building. Looking around Fossil could see grey stone buildings with carved doorways and windows. She walked up to one and looked inside. The light from Bone's horn showed a stone table and four stone chairs around it. There was some kind of moss or something on the floor. They kept walking looking around at the buildings. They were plain and simple without much decoration.

They arrived at their building and walked through the door way. Bone made a light appear at the top of the dome bright enough to light the entire building. They gasped. The building was full of benches on either side. The area in between was a large stone field with rocks jutting out in certain areas. The rocks were chipped in places and some had scratch marks on them. At the far end was a large stone enclosure with a very large stone throne in the center of it.

"It looks like an arena." Fossil said. Bone nodded his head and walked over to the benches. Fossil made her way into the center of the field and looked around for anything of interest. Bone called out in surprise. "Hey! Somepony carved something on this bench!" Fossil walked over and looked down at the writing. _'Please! Make it stop!' _was carved into the bench. "Looks like somepony really hated the show." Fossil said. Bone nodded his head. "Everypony's a critic." Bone said. She laughed at his remark.

They searched the rest of the benches but no more carvings could be found. They examined the field. Fossil looked at the stones jutting out of the field. "Hold on a moment." She flew up to the ceiling a little to the side of the light and looked down. The rocks didn't make any patterns but if she turned her head to the side and squinted it kind of looked like a smiley face. "Nope! The configuration of stones doesn't mean anything!" She yelled down to Bone. He shrugged and continued looking around. She flew down and landed on something sharp. She yelped in surprise and jumped back. On the ground was a rusty metal spike with four points. She looked at it closer. _'Looks like a caltrop.' _She thought. Bone walked over and looked at the object. "That's a weird looking thing." She nodded her head and put it in her satchel. As soon as she closed the flap she got the feeling that something was watching her again. She looked around the room. Her eyes passed over the throne with the shadowy figure sitting in it. She froze in horror and turned her attention back to the throne. Nothing was there.

Bone suggested searching the stone box but she refused to go near it. She instead flew back up to the ceiling to look around again. Bone returned from the throne and shouted that he hadn't found anything. She flew down and carefully landed so as not to step on another hidden caltrop.

As they were leaving she noticed something propped in the shadows of the stands. Bone directed his light at it while Fossil walked over. She picked up a heavy flat disc and looked it over. There were several dents in its surface and there was very faded paint on it. She held it closer to the light and could barely make out a picture of a red star. "I guess it's a shield." She said. The straps on the back had deteriorated but she could see the rusty bolts that would have held the leather in place.

They walked out of the building and noticed it was getting darker. "We should go back now; do you want me to carry the shield?" She shook her head and they started the walk back to the rope. Fossil flew alongside Bone as he climbed up out of the pit. At the top they placed the shield and the caltrop near the storage tent. They found a piece of a helmet and a strange figurine sitting there as well. They greeted the other four, ate supper, and went to their tents.

_'Day three was very exciting. The city is huge! It must have taken hundreds of years to carve! The objects we found suggest that the domed building was most likely a coliseum for the entertainment of the ponies. The scratch marks on the rocks suggest they were used as obstacles to aid or hinder the fighters. I got that feeling I was being watched again and this time saw a shadowy figure sitting on the throne at the front of the room. I only glanced in that direction so I'm assuming the dark was playing tricks on me. It still scared me a lot though. Digger was right; writing in a journal is making me feel better. I'm confident tomorrow will be better than today.'_


	9. Chapter 9 fears

Fossil awoke with a jolt. Without moving she looked around her tent. It was still dark outside so she lit her lamp and sat up. She shivered and pulled her blanket up around her shoulders. It was cold enough outside that she could see her breath. _'How strange.' _She thought. _'It's been so warm the past few days.' _She looked around again and saw a shadow pass by the side of the tent making her freeze in terror.

The shadow slowly made its way to the front of her tent. She stared after it in horror. She could hear her heart beating in her ears as the shadow slowly unzipped the door. It opened to reveal a very tired looking Bone. "Hey, could ya turn off your light; I can't sleep with it on." She exhaled in relief and slumped over. He looked her over in concern. "Are you ok? You look sick." She smiled at him tiredly. "I've just had some strange things happen the last couple of days is all." He sat down in the tent and smiled. "Wanna talk about it?" She looked at him slightly annoyed that he hadn't asked to come in and shook her head. "No. I'll be fine; I'll turn off the light so you can sleep. Good night." She shooed him out of her tent and doused the lamp.

**The next morning**

She stepped out of her tent the next morning and walked to the fire pit. Everypony was already there so she sat down and waited. "Good morning. Did you sleep ok?" Bone asked. She nodded her head. Digger looked toward the giant crack a little nervously. "Well, we should get some breakfast and make our way down to the… dig site." Bone Clay Pot looked at him funny. "Are you ok Digger? You've been acting funny ever since yesterday afternoon." She said.

Digger was about to speak when Stone cut him off. "We just found some interesting writing on the wall is all. I'm sure it's nothing." Fossil looked at him surprised. "So did we! It was carved into a bench in the domed building. It said, 'Make it stop', we assumed it was an incredibly bored pony that disliked the show." Clay Bowl nodded her head. "We found some writing in the tower as well. It said, 'They never sleep', we didn't know what to think of it. Digger looked at them shocked. "That's similar to what we found, only ours was a little bit more… dramatic." They looked at him intently. He leaned closer with a scared look in his eye. "It wasn't a carving, it was a stain. It looked like… well, blood." Stone snorted. "It was probably just paint." Digger ignored him and continued. "The writing was terrifying to me. 'GET OUT.', it said in big capital letters."

They sat back in shock. Stone spoke. "Look you ponies, it was probably somepony who stumbled across the ruins and decided to mess with the next ponies to visit. I mean really! What other possible explanation could there be!" The Clay sisters nodded slowly and Bone smiled in relief. "He's right you know, we're all just over reacting." They all nodded in agreement and the air seemed to lighten a little. Everypony gathered their breakfast and ate.

**A few hours later**

Since Fossil and Bone had finished searching the domed building they were given the task of searching the buildings around it. They searched through houses and found various items such as rusty knife blades, broken dishware, tables, chairs, beds, and other such things. Fossil didn't see the shadow that day and was relieved when they left for the night.

As the two of them walked down the streets toward the rope Bone heard a noise. "Stop, did you hear that?" He asked. They both stopped moving and listened. "I can't hear anything." She whispered. He looked around and nodded. They started moving again. After a moment Fossil heard something. "Wait, I heard it too!" She whispered. They looked around fearfully. They both heard the noise again. It sounded like a slight clicking mixed with gurgling. "What was that?" She whispered in fear. A noise that sounded like claws on stone came near them. They watched the direction it was coming from. The noise stopped abruptly.

They stood for a minute or so before either was able to move. They quickly walked toward the exit; all the while the claw on stone sound followed them. It seemed to gradually be getting faster and they walked so they sped up as well. Eventually they were running full tilt toward the rope. Bone grabbed the rope and started climbing with all his strength while fossil flew near him. The noise stopped but the creature stayed out of the light. They made it to the top and collapsed onto the ground panting.

**Oh man… knowing what is chasing them makes it worse… you'll find out eventually. I may have trouble sleeping tonight…**


	10. Chapter 10 protection

Fossil lay on the ground panting. She slowly looked over to Bone. Their eyes met slowly and smiles appeared on their faces. They started laughing in relief. Digger walked over hesitantly. "Are you two ok?" He asked. Fossil got up off the ground and nodded her head. Bone sat up calming down now. "Something was chasing us. It was terrifying." Fossil nodded her head in agreement. "It was this clicking and growling for a while, but then we could hear claws on stone. It got faster and faster coming straight at us so we ran for the rope and climbed out." Fossil said. Digger cautiously walked to the edge of the crack and looked down into the city.

Everypony sat down in front of the fire to talk about what they found that day. Fossil told the others about the noises they'd heard. "That's creepy! We heard a similar noise, it was kind of muffled but it sounded like high pitched screaming. It happened while we were walking back to the opening." Clay Pot said. Clay Bowl continued the story. "We were walking down a side street to avoid some rubble when we saw a big metal door. As we approached it we could hear… well it wasn't really screaming, just high pitched grunts. As we passed by something hit the door with enough force to dent it so we flew the rest of the way." Digger nodded his head slowly. Stone spoke up. "When we were searching through that mansion type building and we went separate ways I heard something. I was examining a bedroom when I heard a horrible wheezing noise coming from the closet. I assumed somepony had fallen into the crack, had been horribly injured, and for some reason dragged himself into the closet. When I opened the closet door I found a large hole in the floor." He shuddered. "I looked down into the hole and the wheezing stopped. I used magic to see if I could light the hole. I heard something hiss and saw a blur of movement as something ran away."

Digger nodded grimly. "I was hoping we wouldn't have to use them, but I don't think we have a choice." Everypony watched him quizzically as he rose from the ground and walked to the supply tent. He came back a little bit later carrying strange devices. "Hawkeye calls these improvised pistols. You strap it on your hoof and pull this little lever after aiming at what you want it to shoot at." He strapped on one of the devices and aimed it at a tree. He pulled the trigger and a loud bang came from the gun. His hoof flew up in the air from the kickback of the gun. The bullet took a chunk out of the side of the tree about the size of a baseball.

The ponies murmured excitedly. "Wait! You expect us to go back down there?!" Fossil exclaimed. He nodded his head. "The job must be done. These weapons will protect us, though they only hold one bullet at a time." He passed around the pistols and showed them how to reload it. Each pony was given a small pouch with twenty bullets in it. Fossil reluctantly strapped on her pistol and took the ammo pouch. "I don't like this." She said. Digger nodded his head. "I don't either, but it's our job."

That night before going to bed she wrote in her journal again. _'Something horrible is down in that crack. I don't want to go back down but Digger is right, this is our job and I really need the money. He gave us pistols but I'm not sure how well they will defend us, they also don't seem very accurate. Well in any case we know three things about what's down there. One, they don't like light. Two, they are noisy. Three, they have claws. I hope I never see one of them.'_

**20 years in the future**

Rose stopped reading and looked up at the three others. "The next couple of pages get pretty scary so be warned." They looked at her skeptically. "You're pulling out legs ain't ya!" Jonathan exclaimed. "No I'm not! This is actually Fossil's journal… though I've never met her…" Tide looked at the door when he heard somepony knocking on it. "Finally!" He exclaimed. He opened the door to reveal a light grey unicorn with bright blue eyes. His cutie mark was a golden necklace. "Hey guys, hope I didn't miss anything." Lily smiled and motioned for him to come in. "Don't worry Gold. The best part is just about to start!" Rose said. He and Tide sat down and listened to her read from the old journal.


	11. Chapter 11 more than a bump in the night

Fossil and Bone were searching a house when they heard a wheezing noise. They looked at each other and held up their pistols. The wheezing was slowly growing louder until it seemed to be coming from right under the window. They slowly moved away from the window and aimed their guns at it. Neither of them were prepared for what came next.

Fossil heard a faint flapping noise along with the wheezing. The wheezing got quieter and the relaxed a little. Suddenly they could hear very loud flapping and loud wheezing. A monster burst through the window straight for them. Fossil cried out in alarm and dove to the side. The creature smashed into the wall behind them with a loud crack. Fossil aimed and fired the gun. The bullet pierced the creature's skull and went straight out the side. Bone also fired and caught it in the side.

The creature stood up slowly. _'That's impossible! I shot it through the head!' _She stared in horror as it slowly turned and faced her. In the dim light she could see that the creature didn't have eyes, was bleeding out of its eyes and mouth, had sharp fangs, it's front legs had three large claws on the end. Its stomach looked as though it had been blown open and four claws were coming out of the exposed hole. It had horribly disfigured wings as well.

The creature slowly started moving toward her. She backed up as it came toward her. "What the hay?! Is that a Pegasus?!" Bone cried out in horror. She could only shake her head as she backed herself into a corner. The creature was wheezing and blood was dripping from its mouth. Fossil suddenly remembered the rusty sword they had found earlier and pulled it out of her pack.

The creature kept coming forward until it was within striking distance of her. There was a loud bang as Bone fired his gun, the bullet caught the creature in the leg ripping it off. The creature howled in pain giving Fossil enough time to swipe the sword at it. The sword went straight through the neck, severing its head. The body of the creature stumbled around a little before jumping out the window and flying away. She stared after it in horrid fascination.

"What… the… hell." She said slowly. Bone cautiously poked at the head. It didn't move. "I… I think we should-" He was cut off by a scream in the distance and more gunfire. They looked out the window and saw a flash coming from a window in the tower. Moments later they heard a gunshot. "Come on!" She said running for the door. She was almost at the door when another creature stepped into view. She didn't have time to look at it before Bone pulled her to the window. "This way!" They landed on the street below and ran for the tower.

**The tower**

They hadn't seen anymore of the monsters on the way to the tower. They rushed through the front door and ran toward the stairs. Fossil flew up the stairs as fast as she could until she found the floor the twins were supposed to be on. She couldn't see much so she lit her lantern. She examined her surroundings. Bone came up behind her panting. "You… are a fast… flyer…" He panted. "B-b-bone? Is th-that you?" they heard. Fossil turned and saw a severely dented door leaning up against a corner. They walked over to it. "Yes, it's me. Are you all right?" Clay Pot peaked out from around the door and pointed to the stairs. "It's up there!" She whispered. She went back to hiding.

The two slowly made their way up the stairs. Bone gagged when they reached the top. Blood was splattered all around the room. Fossil looked around the room in horror until her eyes fell upon what appeared to be a pile of meat on the floor. She walked over to it cautiously and looked at it. The pile had four legs, a head, and guts spilling out in every direction. "It's… Clay Bowl…" She said dumbly. They heard a scratching noise and looked toward the stairs. Their stood an earth pony. But it appeared severely starved and its ribs were sticking out of its chest. It was covered in some kind of brown material that appeared to be attached to it in certain places. It didn't have any eyes and its legs had hook like claws jutting out of them. It opened its mouth and a long appendage made of the creature's entrails came out. A spike was attached to the end of the gruesome limb.

It screamed in a high pitched voice hurting her ears and charged at her. She rolled out of the way and started running down the stairs with Bone. "Clay! Run!" She yelled. On the next floor she found another of the monsters that had first attacked her ripping Clay Pot's body to shreds. She threw up on the ground and was pulled with magic toward the stairs. "Come on!" Bone yelled. They both ran down the stairs with the creatures close behind. Bone saw a solid iron door standing open ahead of them. He pulled her inside and locked the door behind them. "Find something to barricade the door!" They turned and looked at the room. A pile of bones greeted them in the corner.


	12. Chapter 12 the explorer

Something rammed into the door denting it. Bone shook his head. "There's nothing in here!" fossil glared at him. "Then use magic to hold it shut!" She yelled at him. He looked at her startled. "Oh yeah." His horn started to glow and so did the door. After that the creatures couldn't put any dents in the door. Though he flinched when ever they hit the door. Fossil looked at the walls and gasped. They were covered in carved words. She read some of them out loud. "They never sleep. Make it stop. Their getting closer. They won't die." She read.

The monsters seemed to give up on the door but Bone kept up his spell. Fossil noticed a small book next to the pile of bones. She picked it up and opened it. "_My name is Garnet Stone. I don't really see why my name would matter, it's not like anypony is going to read this other than me. Anyway, I'm an explorer. I have recently received knowledge that there is a strange ruin in the ever free forest. I shall have to seek it out and explore it!_" She read. The two of them looked at each other and she looked back down at the book. "_Success! I've found the entrance to this strange ruin! It took me a while to get around the rubble but I have made it into what appears to be the courtyard._

_I've been searching for a while now and I have found a very strange hallway that looks as though it was intentionally blocked off. I cleared it and found a stair case going deep into the bowls of the earth. It looks dark and uninviting, good thing I brought along plenty of torches._

_I followed the stairs down for about two hundred feet I would estimate. It is pretty cold down here but I shall continue on! The stairs ended at a very long hallway. I followed it until I came upon a large cavern. I noticed what appeared to be a torch holder so I set my torch in it too get my journal. A fire lit up behind my torch and lit up the cavern, it is gigantic! And what's even more impressive is that it is an entire city carved from stone!_

_I've been exploring the buildings but I'm running low on food, I should head back soon. The strangest thing happened the other day. I was walking down a street when I noticed pale blue ghostly figures walking toward the center of town. I followed the apparitions and found a large tower. The ghosts stood outside the tower and waited. A large alicorn stepped out of the tower. He was not a ghost! He was real! He looked around at the ghosts and seemed to be startled to see me. The ghosts disappeared and he flew off into the city. I shall search for this strange alicorn!_

_It's a disaster! They've been chasing me for days now! I've only had enough time to scratch small messages into areas I pass through. I hope anypony who sees these messages will flee immediately! I have barricaded myself in a house, I don't know how safe I'll be in here but it's the best I can do._

_They keep coming! I must have killed at least twenty of those things! The only way to kill them is to completely dismember them or crush them under enormous rocks! I have decided to call the mutated pegasi 'the rotting ones' and the mutated earth ponies 'the warped ones' I have seen shadowy figures of unicorns. One crossed my path and kept going. I stood there until a group of warped ones found me coming from the direction I was about to go. I followed one of the shadowy unicorns and it led me to a strange hut. It disappeared outside when I went in. I discovered food! Canned food in it! I believe the hollow ones, as I call the unicorns, are trying to help me._

_I'm severely injured… a rotting one managed to get a hold of me with its claws that are jutting from its stomach. I was only just able to rip myself away from it at the cost of a lot of skin and meat. I'm hiding in a closet that a hollow one led me too. It has an iron door and a window big enough for me to escape from. I think I'll hide in the tower next if I live._

_This will probably be my last update. A warped one impaled me with its spiked gut arm thing. I've lost too much blood. I was able to crawl into a room in the tower. It has nothing in it but it has an iron door protecting it. I regret nothing._

_ Signed- Garnet Stone"_

Fossil set the book on the ground and looked at the pile of bones. Bone bowed his head in sadness. "What are we going to do now? Those things will kill us if we go outside!" He said. She nodded her head in agreement. "Do you think you could contact Stone or Digger with magic?" She asked. He shook his head sadly. "I've only ever learned how to levitate objects, hold objects in place, stuff like that." He said. She looked around the room but it was empty except for the bones and the two of them. She pulled out her journal and started writing.

_Well Bone and I are screwed. We can't get out of here! Those mutated freaks are waiting right outside the door for us to peak outside. If there was a window I could fly us out, or something but the room is a solid box. Just like a coffin… There has to be a way to escape!_

She drew a picture of the two monsters and labeled them as the warped and the rotting. She set her journal back into her bag and noticed a strange looking gun with a note attached. She opened the note and read it. _'Dismember them' _It said. She examined the gun. It looked like a pistol with a flat barrel. She opened up the gun to look at the ammo and found metal stacks of small, thick metal sheets. She slowly smiled and closed the gun. Bone opened his bag and found a similar gun with a similar note. They nodded to each other. Bone threw open the door.


	13. Chapter 13 dead silence

Stone and Digger were searching what appeared to be a prison when they heard the shots fired. They started walking toward the entrance but stopped when they heard a faint wheezing sound. They stopped and listened. It slowly grew louder and seemed to be coming from in front of them. Stone raised his pistol and pointed it into the darkness. The wheezing noise stopped growing louder as though it had stopped moving before it turned the corner. They watched the passageway intently.  
Digger heard something click behind them and turned to look at it. He cried out in terror when he found himself face to face with the most hideous, mutilated, earth pony he had ever seen. A spike on the end of a limb made of entrails shot from its mouth, impaling him through the head. Stone wheeled around and fired his gun. He was aiming for the head but instead the bullet went through the strange appendage, severing it. The creature spouted blood from its mouth while screaming in a high pitch. It stumbled backward and fell to the ground where it lay twitching occasionally.  
Behind him Stone could hear the creature that was wheezing coming around the corner. He focused and his horn started to glow. When the creature was within striking distance he let loose a large stream of fire. The creature screamed and writhed in the flames until it stopped moving and collapsed. He cut off the spell and wobbled a little. The corpse was little more than a smoldering pile of charred flesh on the ground. He listened carefully for anymore movement but heard none.  
He opened his pack and discovered a strange pistol with a flat barrel. He opened the clip and found several small sheets of metal. Attached to it was a note. '_dismember them' _He nodded at the note and threw it away. Stone walked over to Digger's pack and found a similar gun with the same note so he took the clip out and added it to his pack. He closed Digger's eyes before leaving.  
He walked as quietly as he could, listening for any noises. As he stepped around a pile of rubble he noticed that it was dead silent. Usually he could hear birds chirping faintly or mice scuttling around on the ground. He cautiously continued on his way to the tower. He rounded a corner and could see a corpse on the edge of his lantern's light. He walked toward it a little and looked down at the body. It was a pegasus with distorted wings and four claws sticking out of its gut.  
He tried to walk around it. When he got close to it it sprang up from the ground and came at him. He smashed his gun into the side of its head sending it spinning into a pile of rubble. He aimed the gun and fired. Instead of a bang there was a slight clicking noise. The sheet of metal flew from the gun and severed one of the creature's legs. Stone kept firing until he had blown off all its legs. He listened again but couldn't hear anything.  
He found the sheets of metal lodged in the rubble but couldn't pull them out of the stones so he moved on. He took two steps and collapsed shaking. He shakily looked at his hooves. They were spattered in blood. He started having trouble breathing and tears blurred his vision. "What... what is... going on?! I..." He started sobbing in spasms. He heard something walking toward him. '_I'm going to die down here, aren't I?'_  
**Tower**  
Bone and Fossil fired their guns at the two creatures waiting outside the door. The rotting one pounced on top of Bone and tried to dig its claws into his stomach. He snarled and kicked the monster off of him. Fossil blew both the warped one's forelegs off and then blasted off its head. She turned and saw Bone kicking the rotting one in rage. "It's dead already!" She yelled at him. He gave it one last kick and stood panting. He turned and smiled at her, "Their not so bad once you know how to kill em'." She nodded and pointed to the stairs. "We need to find Stone and Digger. Bone nodded and walked to the stairs.  
Outside they saw a hollow one. It stood watching them for a while then turned and started walking down the street. They followed it until it disappeared outside of a small shed. They opened the door and looked inside. The shelves had canned food, metal sheets for their guns, and two flashlights. They walked inside and closed the door behind them.


	14. Chapter 14 an explanation

Stone slowly looked up to the figure walking toward him. _'I am not dying here!' _He quickly wiped his eyes, pulled the gun up to eye level to aim, and pulled the trigger. The sheet flew toward the figure and hit it in the shoulder. The round bounced off of it with a loud clang and went spinning into the darkness. Stone stared incredulously. The figure stopped and looked down at its shoulder. A light lit up on its head, it looked like three beams of blue light.

The figure looked Stone over then nodded his head. Some kind of machine on its head started moving and parted to reveal the strangest creature he had ever seen, it didn't have any hair on its face, had a bump for a nose, and its ears were round and on the side of its head. "Hmm… I guess this is a different dimension… Can you speak English?" It asked. Stone stared at the creature. "I suppose I do…" Stone said. He wasn't entirely sure what an English was.

"Good, we can't talk here, follow me back to my base." He waved a strange hoof that had five little worm like things on the end. "What?" Stone asked in confusion. He followed the strange creature. "Keep quiet, they don't need to hear us but it makes it easier on them if they can." He peeked around a corner and then walked around it.

Stone followed him through the streets until they came upon a very strange metal object. The creature waved his hoof over a panel made of light and the door opened. Inside he turned on some lights and set a strange object that Stone hadn't noticed before on a shelf. "Well then… I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Isaac Clarke, CEC engineer, though I doubt you know what that means." He sat down in a chair and set his head in his hoof.

"My name is Stone Relic. What are you? What is this place? What are those things!?" He asked, each question rising in volume. Isaac raised his hoof to silence him. "First off, don't shout, my ship isn't exactly sound proof. Secondly, I'm a human, have you never heard of humans?" Stone shook his head. Isaac nodded his head. "I thought not. Anyway I have no idea what this place is, and those things are called necromorphs. I'm sort of the reason they're here…" Stone stared at him.

"What do you mean you're the reason they're here?" He asked. Isaac stood up from the chair and walked to the front of the strange building. He tapped on the screens a bit then turned so Stone could see. _'There! I see it! The ship is being pulled into the black hole!' Isaac appeared on screen pointing at a very strange object floating toward a very large pitch black vortex. 'We need to destroy that marker before it can cause anymore damage! Destroy the ship!' The screen shook and two balls of green light flew at the giant object. After a moment a large explosion shook the screen. The crew members cheered. Isaac turned and smiled at the camera then went back to watching the burning debris fly into the black hole. 'Wait! I'm still getting an energy reading! The marker survived the explosion!' Isaac frowned. The black hole suddenly and violently expanded. 'It's the energy from the marker! It's interacting with the black hole's structure!' The room started flashing red and Isaac's helmet suddenly formed around his head. 'Everyone to the shuttles, now!' The screen went black._

Stone watched the video in fascination. "That doesn't really explain anything." He said. Isaac sighed. "I went in this shuttle to go after the marker. The marker and I entered the black hole at about the same time along with a good portion of the USG Harrier. Those mutated ponies aren't the only necromorphs out there. The marker mutates dead flesh and creates them." Stone nodded and looked out the window.

"Were you the one that put these guns in Digger's and my pack?" He asked. Isaac shook his head. "No, I was kind of surprised to see you had it actually, I'm lucky it only fires sheets of metal or you would have torn off my arm." Stone frowned. Isaac looked out the window of the shuttle.

**A page of Fossil's journal**

_'These fuckers just don't want to die! But they sure want us dead. A hollow one led us to a shed filled with canned food, flashlights, and ammo for the strange guns we got. We took all the ammo, the flashlights, and as much food as we could carry. We had to fight our way through a group of five warped ones to get out of the shed. We made our way to the rope and found it was cut! I could have flown out but I can't just leave Bone down here. I hope somepony will come looking for us, though I find it unlikely. It's only the fifth day and we're not expected back for another week and two days. We're just going to have to hold out until somepony figures out we're missing.'_


	15. Chapter 15 rescue team

Hawkeye and twilight were talking to each other when Shinning Armor burst in. "Twilight! Have you seen-" He cut off when he saw Hawkeye. His eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?" He asked. Hawkeye watched him, startled for a moment, before responding. "I was just talking to Twilight." Twilight nodded. "Who were you looking for?" She asked. Shinning gestured to Hawkeye. "Him, come with me, princess Celestia wants to speak with you."

"I'll come with!" Said Twilight jumping up excitedly. "No, I'm sorry but you can't come along." Hawkeye shook his head. "Why not? Let her come if she wants to." Shinning glared at him. "Don't forget, I've been part of Equestria's army longer than you have, I have more experience than you. She's not coming" Hawkeye smiled evilly. "Don't forget, I'm the general of Equestria's army, I out rank you. She can come if she wants to." They stared at each other for a while before Twilight interrupted them. "I'm coming whether you want me to or not!" She said angrily.

Shinning was about to protest but closed his mouth. "Fine… I'll teleport you with us as well." He said in defeat. Ace and Aqua walked into the library. "We leaving now?" Aqua asked. Shinning nodded his head and his horn started to glow. They disappeared in a flash waking spike up. He sat up straight and looked around frantically. "Twilight?! Did you blow something up again?!" He blinked a couple of times and found the library empty. "What?" He wondered confused.

The five of them appeared in front of the meeting hall doors. Shinning pushed open the doors to reveal both the princesses and a unicorn in a business suit. "Ah, good to see you've finally arrived, and welcome Twilight, how have you been?" Princess Celestia asked. The five ponies took their seats. "I'm very good Princess." She nodded and addressed Hawkeye. "This pony hired your friend a couple of days ago, but he says something is wrong. He insisted upon telling the three heroes of the civil war." Hawkeye nodded. "Sorry, QuickShot can't walk anymore so he won't be much use, what did you need anyway?"

"Well you see, I put a spell on each member of the dig so that I could make sure they're all healthy and ready to work, but yesterday I lost my connection with Digger and the Clay sisters…" Ace frowned. "What does that mean?" He asked. The unicorn shifted a little. "It… it means that… it… well, it means they've died…" He looked at the table sadly. "What about Fossil?! Is she alright?!" Ace demanded. He nodded his head. "The other three are healthy."

"So what do you need us to do?" Asked Hawkeye. The unicorn nodded to himself. "I'd like it if you went down and rescued them, or tell them to come back. It's a pretty deep crevice and there's only one way in and out." Hawkeye nodded. He turned to the other two. "I think we should get Steam and Maelstrom." Ace shook his head. "Why? All we have to do is make sure they can get out of the hole and bring them back." Hawkeye shook his head. "What if there's something down there? Or what if they're lost in the city? We need more ponies." Ace sat back and nodded.

"I'll come with too!" Twilight said. "NO!" Hawkeye and Shinning both yelled at the same time. They looked at one another in surprise. "But I could help! I could use magic to light the way!" She said. Aqua nodded. "I don't see any reason she shouldn't come." She said. Hawkeye nodded fiercely. "No! It could be dangerous down there!" Shinning nodded in agreement.

Twilight put her head in the air proudly. "I'm going to come with and there's nothing you can do about it! So get used to it!" She said. Hawkeye frowned and nodded. "If you're sure… just stay close to me while down there…" He said. Shinning looked at him suspiciously. "Then it's settled, Hawkeye, Steam, Maelstrom, Ace, Twilight, and Aqua will go on the rescue team." Princess Celestia said.

Hawkeye and Twilight teleported to the library. "Hawkeye!" She exclaimed. He jumped. "What?!" She glared at him. "Why didn't you want me on the team?! Do you think I'm weak and helpless?!" He shook his head. "Of course not! It's just I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you…" He looked down at the floor sadly. "I'm sorry." He said. Her face softened and she hugged him. "It's ok, thank you for worrying about me." He embraced her as well. They separated after a while. "SPIKE! I'M LEAVING FOR A WHILE! KEEP THE LIBRARY CLEAN!" She shouted. Hawkeye flinched. They walked out of the library to find Maelstrom and Steam.

Spike started and fell out of bed when he heard Twilight yelling. He lay on the floor dazed for a moment then stood up and looked around the library. No pony was there. He rubbed his head nervously. "Twilight?" There was no response. He didn't dare try to sleep again for a long time.


	16. Chapter 16 gathering the team

Hawkeye stopped in front of the door, a window was slightly open near by and he could hear what was going on inside. "No! Not there! Honestly Steam, we've done this nearly ten times now and you still can't do it correctly!" He stopped in surprise and listened. "I am sorry, but it is hard to get into a good position with my leg like this!" He frowned and looked around uncomfortably. "That's hardly any excuse! Now make sure it's lined up before you put it in this time!" He recoiled in horror. _'What the hell are they doing?!'_ He took a step toward the door and got ready to knock. "There you go! Now keep going." He gagged a little and shook his head. He knocked loudly on the door. "Coming!" He heard.

A moment later Steam opened the door. "Oh hello Hawkeye… is something wrong?" Hawkeye shook his head. "You know your window is open, right?" He asked. Steam laughed. "Oh! I bet that sounded weird from out here. Rarity has been teaching me how to sew." Hawkeye looked at him skeptically. "Well I need you for a rescue team. There's been a horrible accident." He explained the situation.

"Oh, that does sound bad. I would come except that my leg impedes my movement." Steam said. Hawkeye looked down at Steam's leg. There was a large dent in his back leg from when he was shot during the civil war. Hawkeye nodded. "I've actually been working with the scientists to fix that problem. We have a metal frame that goes around your leg that should make it easier for you to walk." Steam looked at the ground. "I would really like to but I do not want to leave Rarity right now." Rarity came up to the door. "Oh hello Hawkeye, how are you?" He smiled at her. "I'm fine; I was just asking Steam to come with me. There's been an accident and we need ponies for a rescue team." Rarity nodded. "What happened?" Hawkeye told her about the expedition and the three deaths.

"My goodness! That sounds terrible! You must go with him Steam!" She exclaimed. He shook his head. "But Rarity, my leg! I can not go, I would also have to leave you alone if I went." She smiled at him. "I'll be fine while you're gone. Just go with them, ok?" He nodded his head. "Don't worry; I'll make sure he comes back in one piece." Hawkeye said. She nodded and turned to Steam. "Be careful, alright?" She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "I will come back as soon as I can." He said. Rarity waved as they left.

**Sweet Apple Acres**

Twilight walked through the apple trees looking for Maelstrom. "Well howdy Twilight! What brings you here?" She heard. Twilight turned and faced Applejack. "Hello Applejack, is Maelstrom around here anywhere? I need to speak with him." Applejack nodded. "He and Jonathan are in the north field buckin' apples. Why, did something happen?" Twilight and Applejack walked along side each other while Twilight explained. "There was an accident during an expedition, a small search party is being sent out to look for the remaining three and we decided Maelstrom should come with." Applejack looked ahead nervously.

They found Jonathan looking up into a tree holding a basket on his head. "Hello Jonathan, where's your father?" Twilight asked. He caught a couple of apples that fell out of the tree. "Howdy Twilight, he's up in the tree." He said. He ran over to the side to catch a couple more apples as they fell. Maelstrom poked his head down out of the branches. "Ahoy there Twilight. Did ya need something?" Twilight nodded. "We would like you to come with us on a… mission I guess… three archaeologists may be trapped and we need to get them back here." She said. Applejack shifted back and forth nervously. Maelstrom frowned and climbed down a ladder that was leaning against the tree. His right back leg was wrapped in cloth.

"Sorry Twilight, I busted up my leg a couple days ago. Actually I probably shouldn't be workin' out here in the field." He said. Applejack smiled a little. "Sorry Twi, he's in no condition to go traipsin 'round the country side." She frowned. "Then why is he working in the field?" She asked confused. "I insisted on continuing to work, if I sit around all day I'll go crazy." Maelstrom responded. Twilight nodded. "Oh… alright then, I hope you get better soon. I should probably go meet with Hawkeye and Steam…" She turned to go.

As she left the farm a unicorn covered in a grey and brown cloak with a heavy fabric wrapped around his head came running toward her. He also had a bulky bag strapped to his side. She looked at him startled. Time seemed to go slower as he passed by her. His left eye was covered by the fabric; his other eye was dark brown. They looked at each other in surprise as he passed. Time seemed to go normal again and he sped off away from town. A moment later Rainbow Dash flew past with a rainbow trailing behind her. Twilight stood in confusion looking in the direction the two of them went.

She stood for a while then shook her head and walked toward town. She met Steam and Hawkeye outside of the library. "Maelstrom broke his leg, he can't come with." She explained. Hawkeye nodded his head. Twilight looked at Steam and found him in his Admiral's armor with a saber strapped to his side. "I haven't seen you in armor in a long time, you look noble in it." She said. He grinned and saluted. "We should get going now." Hawkeye said. Twilight nodded and they teleported away.

Spike was taking a nap on a branch when Hawkeye and Steam arrived. He awoke when he heard Steam's voice. He looked over the branch and saw the two of them. His eyes narrowed. "Steam…" He hissed. He hated Steam. A lot. He went inside to find something heavy to drop on him. He walked outside and raised a heavy book above his head. Twilight was there now. He hesitated a little and they teleported away. The flash startled Spike into dropping the book on his head. He fell out of the tree and landed with a thud on the ground. "I hate him…" He muttered.


	17. Chapter 17 genetic demutation

The two of them stared up at the gigantic thing. It was made of metal. It had apparently crash landed because a trail of rubble and crushed houses lay behind it. Fossil looked over at Bone. "What do you think it is?" She asked. He shook his head in amazement. They started walking toward it. They listened for any of the warped or rotting as they walked.

Up ahead a new monster rounded the corner. It was humanoid in form other than the fact that one of its arms was a big yellow pulsating sack. It awkwardly dragged it toward the two of them as fast as it could. A couple of the rotting ones ran around the corner toward them as well. Fossil aimed the gun and fired it at the yellow appendage. When the metal sheet made contact the sack exploded with enough force to dismember the rotting ones. They stared at the spot the creature had been in aghast.

"Should we name that one too? Whatever it is?" Bone asked. She nodded and pulled out her journal. _'New creature. It stands on one leg and one arm. Its other arm has turned into some kind of pulsating, glowing, yellow sack. Its legs appear to be fused together. When shot, the sack explodes with enough force to kill a group of the rotting ones. I suppose we'll call it the exploder._

She drew a quick sketch and put her journal back in her pack. They cautiously walked up to the small crater in the ground and looked down at the splattered yellow liquid. "Gross… Do you think it's edible?" Bone asked smiling. She punched him in the arm and shook her head while laughing. "I don't know, why don't you find out?" She said. They smiled and continued on cautiously.

As they made their way to the crash site they noticed that they had to fight the creatures more often. Fortunately for them they still had plenty of rounds to spare. They encountered two more variants of the creatures on their way there. She wrote short descriptions, drew a picture, and named them. She wanted to call one of them the scythes, but Bone thought the slasher was a more accurate description; they named the other the puker because of the way it tried to vomit on Bone.

They arrived at an opening into the strange metal behemoth. They looked up and found _U.S.G HARRIER _painted on the side. Fossil took a note of it and went inside. She looked around in surprise. _'This looks a lot like a futuristic hospital reception area…' "Foreign contamination detected. Lock down activated." _They heard. A door way that was open slid shut and the lights turned dark red. They stopped and listened. They could hear something crawling in the vents. They made their way into a corner and readied their weapons.

A slasher burst down from a vent near them and ran at them. The door that had just closed was punctured by two spikes and ripped open. They fired at the things as they came at them. Another slasher broke through a vent farther away. "Whoa! They just keep coming!" Fossil exclaimed. Bone nodded and shot one of the creature's legs off. When they killed the last one the voice came back. _"Lock down deactivated, thank you for your patience."_ They looked at each other slowly.

They made their way through the hospital until they came across a room with five very large tubes with glass doors open. As they walked inside the door slammed shut. They wheeled around. _"Foreign contamination detected. Please step into the genetic tubes." _They waited for the creatures to burst down from the ceiling. _"Please step into the genetic tubes." _The voice repeated. Fossil looked to Bone and pointed to the glass tubes. "I'm guessing the only way we're going to get out of here is if we step into the tubes." She said. _"Please step into the genetic tubes." _Bone nodded and they each walked up to one of the tubes. They both stepped inside. _"Please remove all articles of clothing." _The voice said. They removed their helmets and jackets and set them outside of their tubes.

The doors to the tubes slid shut as soon as they were standing still. A metal sheet slid out of the wall surrounding fossil and Bone's tubes. She panicked a little. A male voice started talking inside the tube. _"Genetic de-mutation process activating in three… two… one." _A bright light blinded her.

The bright light lasted for around five minutes and the entire time she felt as though someone were jabbing her with red hot needles. The light turned off and the voice came back on. _"Genetic de-mutation process complete. You may now exit the genetic tube." _The metal slid off and the door opened. She looked down at herself. She was a human again! She was now wearing the clothing she had been wearing before coming to Equestria. She stepped out of the tube and looked over at Bone. He was human now as well, except that he had a unicorn horn on his head still. She felt her back and found a pair of wings. "Fascinating." She said. Bone stared at her in fear. She raised a hand. "Hello Bone, it's me, Fossil." She said.

He looked down at himself. "Ah! What happened to me?!" He exclaimed. He was wearing a pair of light grey cargo pants with a light grey tank top; his hair was snow white. "Where did these clothes come from?! What am I?" He started to panic. Fossil grabbed him by the shoulders. "Calm down! Apparently those machines turn things into humans. We're both human now." She said. He stared at his new hands. She patted him on his shoulder and walked over to their stuff. The helmets and jackets were too small to wear now and their saddle bags would have sat awkwardly on them. She shook her head and took all the ammo out of the packs. She ripped the straps off the saddle bags and tied them into crude holsters. Each strap held five clips. She handed one to Bone.

"Tie this around your waist, it'll only hold five clips but that's better than nothing. He nodded hesitantly and tied it around his waist. He looked at his hands in amazement. "Wow! How did I know how to do that?!" He asked. She shrugged and smiled at him. She strapped on her clips and took up the gun. "Ready?" She asked. He cautiously took a few steps to test out his legs. He nodded in satisfaction. "Ready." He said. They aimed their guns at the doors and opened it.


	18. Chapter 18 security

Fossil and Bone made their way down the halls of the U.S.G Harrier's medical bay as quietly as they could. They reached a door that was closed; there was no discernable handle on it. "How do we open it?" Fossil whispered. Bone shook his head. She felt around on the door. She gave up after a bit and took her hands away. As her hands fell to her sides they passed over a glowing blue projection. It beeped and the door slid open. Fossil looked inside startled.

They walked inside. A door on the side of the room slid open to reveal two humans in very strange metal suits. The word security was written on their shoulders. The two of them saw Fossil and Bone and aimed what looked like very bulky rifles at them. "Drop your weapons and kneel on the ground!" One of them shouted. Fossil dropped the pistol and put her hands on her head while kneeling down. Bone hesitated a moment and did the same. The security guards ran over and pulled them onto their feet. A holographic screen appeared in front of one of them. "We found two more survivors, more of the mutated ones. The girl has wings and the boy has a horn. We're bringing em' to you now." The person on the screen was wearing the same armor but without the helmet. "Roger that. Avoid deck B sub section five if you can, it was just overrun." He nodded and the screen blinked out of existence. "This way!" They led them through the doorway and to the end of a hallway.

He waved his hand over a panel and the door slid open. The four of them walked inside and the door slid shut. The elevator started moving up. One of the security guards spoke. "Where are your RIGs?" He asked. "Well um… I don't have one." Fossil said. He nodded. "I see." The elevator door opened to reveal a slasher repeatedly stabbing a security guard. "Shit!" One of them yelled. He opened fire. Fossil noticed they were shooting at the slasher's torso. "Shoot off their limbs! It's the only way!" She exclaimed.

The guards focused their fire on the limbs and soon took it down. "How did you know that?" He asked. "We've been fighting these things as well." Responded Bone. They moved on cautiously. One of the guards opened up the screen again. "The necromorphs have moved into subsection four as well. We're almost there though. Also we just found out that you need to dismember them to kill them." The man nodded his head thoughtfully. The screen went away and a moment later the intercom came on. _"Attention crew, this is head security officer Garret Hans. Dismember the necromorphs, it's the only way to kill them quickly. Please make your way to the security depot." _The four kept walking. They had to step over the bloody corpses of security guards and civilians alike. At the end of the hallway they opened the door and stepped into a small, barricaded hallway. The vents had been welded shut and blocked off as well. Laser pointers appeared on them then went away after a moment. "Go on ahead." One of the guards behind the barricade called out.

They stepped into the large room. It was filled with civilians in normal clothing, strange metal armor, and a lot were covered in bandages. "Check in with Officer Garret and find a place to sit. We'll begin evacuation once we have all living crew members here." He said. The two turned and walked out of the room. As they walked toward the desk where Garret was sitting they noticed others with horns or wings. A medical curtain nearby was spattered with blood and had a steady stream of the mutated humans going in. Someone walked out with their head bandaged. "They must be removing horns and wings over there." She said to Bone. His hands flew up to his horn protectively.

"Full name and occupation." Garret said when they walked up. "Marie Ross. I'm an archaeologist." She said. He looked at her in confusion and looked over a list of names on the screen. "You are not a registered member of the U.S.G. Harrier…" He said. "I don't have a RIG." She said. He nodded. "That must be it. You?" He pointed to Bone. "He's Hector Drune." She said quickly. "Do you have a RIG?" He asked. Bone shook his head. "No…" Garret nodded and typed something in. The holographic video communication thing appeared with a security guard on it. "We managed to take down the Brute lurking on Deck E. We had to get behind it and blast the fuck out of its arms with our pulse riffles." Garret smiled. "Great job! The group of civilians from engineering need assistance. Make your way to deck D sub section two." He said. The guard saluted and the screen disappeared. He turned back to the two of them. "You can get your mutations removed in the temporary hospital shelter. We've run out of pain killer though so it's going to hurt like hell for a while." He said. They nodded and walked off into the crowds.


	19. Chapter 19 new arrivals

Stone and Isaac were making their way to the ruins of the U.S.G Harrier when Stone noticed a red glow way off in the distance of the cavern. "What's that?" He asked. Isaac looked in the direction he was pointing. "That's probably the marker. I tried to make my way over there once but the necromorphs are swarming the area around it." Stone nodded. They continued walking until they got to the ship.

Stone looked up at it impressed. "It's huge!" He exclaimed. "I know, and this is just the medical bay, engine rooms, security depots, and about a fourth of the civilian living quarters." Isaac said. They walked in through a hole in the hull and found dismembered necromorphs on the floor. "Looks like some of the crew survived the crash." He said. Stone went to one of the walls and found a metal sheet sticking out of it. "Perhaps they did, but this was the work of my colleagues." He said.

They continued down the medical bay halls following a trail of dismembered necromorphs and exhausted ammo clips. They found the saddle bags in the genetics room. They stepped inside and the doors slid shut. _"Foreign contamination detected. Please step into the genetic tubes."_ Isaac pointed to one of the tubes. "It won't let us out until we get into the machines. The ship is hardwired so that if any foreign contaminations are detected it quarantines off that area. This area is designated to correct mutations or most illnesses." He explained. _"Please step into the genetic tubes." _Stone took off his helmet and vest and placed his bag next to the other two. He stepped into the machine.

**Outside**

Hawkeye looked down into the pit. It was dark at the bottom but he could just barely see movement. They threw the rope down. "Fossil! Bone! Stone! Are you down there!?" He shouted. There was no response. The five ponies climbed down the rope and stopped at the bottom. They were accompanied by five royal guards. They flew down into the crack. Hawkeye looked around. "Twilight, could you give us a light?" He asked. She nodded her head and her horn started to glow. A moment later a bright light appeared above them making them able to see up to thirty feet in front of them clearly.

As they walked through the town Hawkeye noticed that there was a lot of noise. Scratching and faint wheezing, sometimes flapping could be heard all around them. "A light!" They heard from up ahead. They heard running and readied their blades. Two humans appeared in the light. Their expressions of happiness turned into confused looks when they saw the group.

A slasher ran up behind the two and impaled one through the back. It tossed his corpse aside and lunged for the other human. "Shit!" Hawkeye exclaimed in surprise. He ran forward with his sword and stabbed it through the slasher's back. It took no notice and instead ripped the screaming human in half. Blood spattered the ground for almost ten feet around the slasher. Hawkeye jumped back in surprise. The five guards rushed forward and drove their spears through it.

Their weapons had no effect on the creature though and it then proceeded to rip the guards to shreds. The five others ran past it down the street. "Hurry!" Hawkeye yelled. More slashers and the infected ponies came into the light. The five companions could do nothing but dodge around them and keep running. Twilight focused for a moment and a light appeared on top of a very tall tower. She then teleported everypony to the top of the tower. They stopped and stood panting.

"What… the fuck… was that?!" Asked Ace out of breath. Hawkeye shook his head. Steam tested his leg. It was covered in a metal frame that supported his weight for his legs. When he was satisfied it still worked properly he looked around. "It would appear as though we are on top of a very large tower. If we could light up the entire cavern we could see where to go. Twilight, do you think you could do that?" He asked. She shook her head. "I'll try my best, but I don't know." Her horn glowed brighter and a large sphere of light appeared at the top of the cavern. It illuminated enough that they could see where they came down but they couldn't see the opposite wall. Hawkeye jumped in surprise when he saw a gigantic metal ship crashed a ways off. "Look at that!" He exclaimed. No pony else got to see before Twilight cut off the spell. She started panting and the small light above them flickered a little.

Hawkeye rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Twilight! Are you ok?!" She smiled at him weakly. "I just… couldn't… hold on… to the spell… anymore…" He nodded and smiled sadly. "Why don't you stop using magic for a while, we'll use the lanterns instead." He said. She nodded gratefully and ended the spell keeping the light above them. A moment later Steam and Ace both had a lit lamp in hand. He turned to Twilight. "I saw something interesting out in the city, we can either walk there or we can teleport if you think you have enough energy." He said. She nodded. "I think I can." Her horn started glowing and they warped.

When Hawkeye could see again he found they were right next to the ship. He grinned and turned to Twilight. He was about to say something but she looked like she was going to collapse. He caught her as she fell over. "Are we… there?" She asked weakly. He nodded. "Yes. Now no more magic at all. I shouldn't have asked you to teleport us…" He said ashamed. She smiled a little. "It's alright." She said. The five made their way into the ship. Hawkeye had to carry Twilight on his back though.


	20. Chapter 20 help

Hawkeye set Twilight down on a seat that wasn't covered in blood once they were in the ship. All the excitement was making his heart beat faster and caused his chest to hurt whenever his heart pumped. He grimaced a little and sat down on the floor to rest. Twilight put her head on his shoulder. "Are you ok?" She asked quietly. He leaned his head against hers. "It's just my chest. I'll be fine. Steam smiled at them. "Ah! I knew it was Twilight!" He grinned at the two of them. Hawkeye rolled his eyes. "We should start moving as soon as Twilight feels well enough to walk." He said.  
Two security guards walked through the door that was torn open and looked around the room. They froze when they saw the five ponies. "Please tell me you see them. Those horses…" The other one nodded. Hawkeye stood up and looked them over. "How did you get here without turning into a pony?" He asked. Aqua, Steam, and Twilight looked at him startled. The two security guards just stood for a while. One of them opened up a link with the head of security. "Uh, sir. I think we've found five more survivors…" He said. "What do you mean you think?" He asked. The screen turned around so that the man could see the five of them. He jumped in surprise. "Wow. That's the worst mutation we've seen so far!" He exclaimed. "Take them to the genetics ward and have them de-mutated." He said. The two seemed to relax a little. "Yes sir."

The guards led the five of them to the genetics room. They noticed the stuff the archaeologists had left behind. "What the heck?" One of them said. He bent over and picked up one of the bags. The other guard pointed at the tubes. "Please remove all clothing and step into the tubes." As the five stepped into the room the door slid shut. "Don't worry; as soon as you're de-mutated we'll be able to leave. The five removed all clothing and stepped into the machines. A minute later they stepped out. Aqua was wearing a black tank top and black pants, her hair was still blue. Steam stepped out wearing a heavy grey shirt and grey jeans, his hair was blue as well. Hawkeye and ace stepped out in their flight suits and smiled at each other. Last came Twilight. She was wearing a long purple dress. Her hair was the same color as before and her horn was still sticking out of her forehead.

The three former ponies looked at themselves in fascination while Hawkeye and Ace talked to the two guards. "What's going on here? We've been attacked by mutants with spikes jutting from their hands! We watched five perfectly good soldiers get torn to shreds by those things!" One of the guards nodded. "They're called necromorphs, that's what they do. They'll just keep killing until everyone is dead. We're currently trying to get every survivor to the security depot, then when the anti-asteroid guns are back online we can blast our way out of this cavern and escape in the shuttles." He said. Hawkeye nodded.

Twilight and Hawkeye walked next to each other while the guards led them through the halls. "What did you mean by getting here without turning into a pony?" She asked. He sighed. "Well you see, we are currently what you call human. We walk on two legs, use hands to do things, can't use magic, and can't fly without a machine." He said. He continued to explain about how humans live in a different place and how they invent technology to make their lives easier. She nodded slightly. "How do you know so much about humans?" She asked. His mouth twitched a little. "Well… because Ace, Quickshot, Kestrel, and I were all originally human." He said. She looked ahead thoughtfully.

The group finally arrived at the security depot. It was quiet except for the occasional cough or clicking of feet on the ground. The two guards led them up to the head of security and left. "Name and occupation." He said. "Shane Rowell, Blackhawk gunner." Hawkeye said. Garret looked up at them annoyed. "Please be serious sir. It's been a long couple of weeks." Hawkeye shook his head. "My name is Shane Rowell, I operate turrets." Ace cut in. "I'm Alex Drent, I pilot ships." Garret nodded. "Alright then. He put their names down. "This is Brent Steam, that's Christine Shade, and this is Sarah Sparkle." Hawkeye gestured to the other three. Garret nodded and put down their names. "You can have your mutation removed in the temporary medical bay." He gestured to the curtained off area. "Other than that just wait here."

Hawkeye shook his head. "I'd like to help in some way." Ace nodded. "I would too!" The other three nodded their heads in agreement. Garret looked them over. "Fine. Go to the store, it's guarded by two security officers, get a security rig and any of the guns listed. When you've done that come back here and I'll tell you what to do next." They nodded and walked off to the area he had described.

Hawkeye stepped into the machine and the door closed, machinery whirred around him as the RIG was attached to him. At last the door opened and he stepped out in a full security RIG. The helmet covered his face. He chose a pulse rifle to use. Ace and Steam took pulse rifles as well. Aqua took a seeker rifle, and Twilight took a Javaline gun. They were taught how to use their weapons and were given five extra clips. They made their way back to Garret.


	21. Chapter 21 the halls of the Harrier

"What about our mission?" Twilight asked Hawkeye as they walked. He nodded his head. "You saw those saddle bags in the genetics room right? They must be here somewhere." He looked around the dimly lit room, searching for Marie. They walked up to the desk to find Garret arguing with someone on his holographic screen. "No! Do not leave the ship! There could be millions of necromorphs outside." The civilian on the screen threw his hands up in rage. "This ship is doomed! We need to get out of here while we can!" Hawkeye walked up behind Garret so that his face was on screen. "Do not leave the ship. We went out to look around and were swarmed by them. We lost five trying to get back to the ship. Plus there's no way out, we're in a cavern." The civilian glared at him. "Fine, I'll come to the fucking depot." The communication cut off.

Garret nodded at him. "Thank you for that. Now then…" He looked at the screen next to him. "As for a job… I need you to go to the civilian living quarters. A group of survivors reported a pull arm and a brute on that deck. I need you to go take them down. You can kill the brute by getting behind it and shooting the back of its arms. We know next to nothing about the pull arm though… be careful." Hawkeye saluted.

As they were walking toward the elevator a civilian approached them. "Um… are you going to the civilian quarters?" She asked. Hawkeye nodded. She wrung her hands nervously. "I was wondering if you could… look for my brother while you're up there… he's a little taller than me with sandy hair. He's probably wearing an Earth Gov RIG…" Hawkeye put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry, if he's alive we'll find him." She smiled a little and backed away. He nodded to his group and made his helmet formed around his head. The others put on their helmets and stepped into the elevator.

**EmergencyMedicalBay**

"There's a store up ahead, I'll get us both a Riot RIG if there are any left. You'll also need a better gun…" He said as they walked along. Stone nodded his head. He wasn't quite used to being human yet but he found he kind of liked it. They stopped in front of a store. Isaac messed around with the panel for a while. "Shit. Garret's blocked all security type RIGs and weapons. Looks like we'll have to use engineering RIGs." He motioned for Stone to come over. "Step into the machine." He did as he was told and a moment later he came out in an engineer RIG. "Nice!" He admired the suit. Isaac pushed him out of the way. "Now for weapons…" The power suddenly shut off and the lights went dark. "Shit! Get your back to a wall!" He exclaimed. He pointed the pulse rifle around. Everything stayed quiet for a while. Isaac motioned for Stone to follow him. He went to the door at the far end of the hall and opened it. "Luckily the doors work on their own power supply. We should be able to continue on."

**Security Depot**

Marie looked around from the bench she was sitting on and counted the number of people in the room. They kept moving around though. She gave up after a while and slumped back against the wall. Bone patted her on the shoulder and smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry. We'll just stay here for a couple of days then leave with the search party when it's sent to find us." She nodded her head. "But what if the crew is ready to leave before then?" She asked. He frowned and looked down at the floor. A little girl walked up to them dragging a small teddy bear after her. "Where's mommy?" She asked. She was crying a little. "I want my mommy!" She said. Marie picked up the little girl and set her in her lap. The little girl hugged her and started sobbing into her chest. "It's ok. It's all going to be ok." She said trying to soothe the girl. She looked around the room at the people. "What does your mommy look like?" She asked softly. The girl looked up at her. "She's pretty… and, and… her hair is brown…" She said while crying. "Don't worry. We'll help you find your mommy." She looked around the room again and stood up carrying the little girl. Bone stood up too. "Oh jeeze, what are we going to do if we can't find her?" He whispered to Marie. She nodded her head. "If we can't find her we'll keep her with us. We can't just leave her alone." She whispered back. He nodded and looked around sadly. "I wonder how many of these people have lost loved ones…" She nodded her head sadly. Marie looked down at the little girl. "What's your mommy's name?" She asked. The girl sniffed and looked up at her. "Helen." She said. They walked to Garret. "Hey, this little girl's lost her mother, her name is Helen, is she here anywhere?" Garret nodded and checked the screen. He brought up a list of crew members. Most of them were in red boxes but a few were in green. He typed in Helen and came up with three people. All three of them had a red box around them.

"Well um…" He looked at the girl nervously. Marie frowned sadly and handed the girl to Bone. She knelt down next to Garret and looked him in the eyes. "She's dead, isn't she?" She whispered. He nodded. "What about her father? Could you look for her father?" He nodded and turned back to the screen. He clicked on one of the pictures. A picture of the little girl was under the picture of Helen and a man. The little girl and the man both had green boxes around them. Garret sighed in relief. "Yes, her father is alive. His name is Ron. Looks like he's an Earth Gov official; he was last spotted in the civilian quarters." Marie nodded. She turned to the little girl. "What's your name?" She asked. "My n-name is Karren." She said. She nodded. "Your mommy isn't here, but your daddy is in the civilian quarters. We're going to find him for you, ok?" She nodded. "I want you to stay here near Garret. We'll be back as soon as we find him, ok?" Karren nodded and clutched her teddy bear.

"If you're going to the civilian quarters you'll need equipment. Go to the shop and get some weapons." Garret said. Marie nodded. They went to the store to get their weapons. Marie stopped in front of the two guards. "We're going to the civilian quarters, we need weapons." He nodded and started typing on the console. A moment later he handed them both two large rifles. "Those are pulse rifles, go to the shooting range. The guards there will teach you how to use them." She nodded and the two of them walked off. After becoming familiarized with their new weapons they walked to the elevator. When they reached the doors the power suddenly turned off.


	22. Chapter 22 unitologist soldiers

Hawkeye signaled for the group to stop when the power turned off. He turned on the flashlight on his pulse rifle and aimed it around the hallway they were in. The screen on all their RIGs appeared. _"This is a message to all security personnel. If you are near the engine room please try your best to fix the lights, I'm switching on emergency stores so the doors can be opened." _The screen went away and a dull red light turned on. "Alright, as soon as we kill our objectives we're finding the three archaeologists and getting the fuck out of here. Everyone got that?" They nodded.

Twilight walked up next to him. "Hey Hawkeye? What does fuck mean? I keep hearing it used like an emphasis." She said. Hawkeye started in surprise and then laughed. "It's a swear word, you use it when you're really upset or need to emphasize the importance of something." He said. She nodded thoughtfully. She remained silent as they walked on.

At the end of the hallway was a door that was glowing orange. Hawkeye tried to open it but it wouldn't move. He opened up a link with Garret. "Garret, this door won't open, we need a new route." Garret nodded and typed something into the computer. "There's a ventilation shaft near you, you can use it to get around the door. Be careful though, necromorphs like to hide in the vents." Hawkeye nodded and cut communications. He looked back down the hallway and saw the vent. Ace walked up to it and fired his pulse rifle at it. The vent blew off and a dead body came tumbling out. He jumped back in surprise.

Twilight fired a javelin into it in surprise. The spike went through its chest and pinned it to the ground. "Nice reflexes." Hawkeye said while Ace climbed into the vent. He signaled that it was safe and started crawling toward the other side. Hawkeye went in next to make sure nothing came from the opposite side of the vent. Once they were all inside Hawkeye followed the five of them to the other side of the door. "Stop!" Ace whispered. They stood still and listened. Up ahead they could hear muffled yells and gunfire. Hawkeye opened a link with Garret. "Garret," He whispered. "We can hear someone, can your computer show who it is?" He asked.

Garret nodded and began typing. A moment later he turned to face him again. "It looks like its two unitologist soldiers, be very careful with them. Shoot them if you need to." He said. Hawkeye nodded and signaled for Ace to open the vent. Ace kicked the fan off the vent and waited for Hawkeye to come over. There was an exclamation of surprise from outside and two laser pointers were aimed into the vent. "Don't shoot! We're human!" Hawkeye called out. He tossed his weapon out of the vent and then climbed out.

The two unitologist soldiers aimed their weapons at him as he came out. "Ah, you're a security guard." One of them said. Hawkeye took off his helmet so they could see his face. "Yes, there are four more of us; we're just passing through to the civilian quarters. Will you allow us to pass?" He asked. The two soldiers looked to each other. "We're coming with you. Make sure you don't do anything funny." One of them said. Hawkeye nodded. "Alright guys, let's go!" He called out. The other four came out of the vents.

**U.S.G Harrier medical stasis room**

Isaac opened the door and aimed his pulse rifle into the room. There were two or three dead bodies but other than that there was nothing. He moved into the room and motioned for Stone to follow. "All right, we're almost at the medical transport ships. Once there we can fly to the marker and destroy it!" He said. "Uh, how exactly do we destroy it?" Stone asked. Isaac stopped and slumped over. "I don't know…" Stone rolled his eyes and looked around the room. In the far corner was a corpse holding a long rifle. He walked over to it and picked it up. "Hey! That's an ARC welder, nice find!" Isaac said.

"Oh, I know!" Isaac said suddenly. "If we make a bomb out of the ship's power core, we may be able to cause a large enough explosion to vaporize the marker!" He exclaimed. "Alright, how do we get the power core? How do we turn it into a bomb?" Stone asked. "The power cores are in the engine room, we'll need around five of those… Then we'll need about twenty pulse rifle clips, some ARC welder ammo, an ARC welder, and a detonation system. I'll buy the ammo we need from the store, meanwhile you make your way to the engine room, and I'll tell you what to do once you're there." Stone nodded. "All right, I'll be back as soon as I can." He said. Isaac nodded and they walked off in two different directions.

**Bone and Fossil**

As soon as the elevator door opened the two of them stepped on. Inside a dull red light glowed above them. Fossil looked to the ground as it began to move. Bone put an arm around her shoulder and smiled at her sadly. She nodded to him as a tear formed in her eye. "Don't worry; everything will be ok… somehow…" The elevator door opened a while later. He patted her on her back and nodded. She sniffed a little and nodded to him. They readied their weapons and stepped out into the hallway.


	23. Chapter 23 twinkle, twinkle

Hawkeye opened the door and peered inside. It was a hallway branching to the left and the right. He stepped into the hallway slowly and looked both ways. "All clear!" He called out. The door slammed shut before the other six could get through. Hawkeye jumped back in surprise. The door at the end of the hallway opened to reveal a completely barren room. The only object in the room was a little girl sitting in the center of the room. He looked around nervously and started walking to the room. As he got closer he could hear the little girl was singing. _"Twinkle, Twinkle little Shane. Boy are you a giant pain. Killing slashers left and right, why do you still choose to fight?" _He was now standing right behind the little girl. He noticed that her voice sounded as though two people were singing at once. She didn't move. _"Twinkle, twinkle little Shane. Time to be engulfed in…" _The girl turned around suddenly. She didn't have eyes and was bleeding out of her nose, mouth, and eyes. Her mouth was gapping open as well. _"Flame!" _She screamed. He jumped back in terror as the little girl disappeared. The door slammed closed behind him and the room was suddenly a hallway engulfed in flames. "Shit!" He yelled. A fireball exploded behind him near the door sending rubble flying in every direction. He ran forward toward the next door, it was blocked open by some rubble. He dove to the left as a panel above him fell flaming into the spot he had just been in. He continued running until the ceiling above the door exploded sending flaming debris down and blocking the door. He stopped and looked around frantically. He saw a vent to his right and shot it open. He didn't hesitate before diving headfirst into the shaft. Behind him a gas line ruptured and sprayed its flammable substance everywhere. A huge fireball blew the hall apart. He was frantically crawling down the vent but the shockwave caught up to him and sent him flying down the vent. He landed with his head inches away from a large rotating fan. He lay there for a moment in shock before sitting up. He looked back behind him and could see the dull orange glow of a fire. He slumped against the wall in relief. He crawled down the vent to the left of the fan.

**The other side of the door**

"Hawkeye!" Twilight yelled. She banged her fists against the door. "No!" Ace ran up to the door and tried to pry it open. It wouldn't budge. "Hawkeye! Are you there?! Answer me!" He yelled. "It's no use, those doors are sound proof. He's probably dead anyway." One of the unitologist soldiers said. Steam glared at him. "You do not know what you are talking about! He is probably waiting for us on the other side of the door!" He yelled. The soldier aimed his pulse rifle at Steam's chest. "Stay back! I'm warning-" A giant fleshy tentacle burst through the wall and grabbed the soldier by his legs. It pulled him screaming through the wall. The other soldier fired into the newly made hole.

The tentacle came back out but instead crushed the other soldier into the other wall. Ace fired his pulse rifle at a yellow sac on the thing. The others also started firing after a moment. It suddenly burst making the end of it fall off onto the ground. The soldier had lost his helmet in the attack. He looked around at them weakly. "Ah… I… don't feel too good…" He said. He coughed and blood spattered the ground in front of him. "Am I… going to… die?" He asked. He coughed more blood and felt his stomach. The four of them watched him for a while. Finally he breathed out one last breathe and sank lower onto the floor. Blood trickled out of his mouth. "God… will we ever get out of here alive?" Ace asked. He knelt by the dead soldier and lay him down on his back.

The door behind them turned blue allowing them to open it. They walked through into the hallway. And saw the door at one end was partially blown open. Behind it they could see the hallway was on fire. They walked in the other direction while Ace talked to Garret. "The two unitologist soldiers are dead, we managed to kill the drag tentacle as well." He said. Garret nodded. "The brute should be in the food storage. Kill it and bring back as much food as you can." Ace nodded. "We also lost Shane… We got separated. We have no idea if he's alive or not." Garret nodded and cut communications. They continued on in grim silence.


	24. Chapter 24 a pocket full of posy

Garret leaned back in his chair and sighed. He opened up a link with the engineers he had sent to fix the anti-asteroid guns. "How long is it going to take, I don't think we can hold out much longer." The engineer on screen shook his head. "Sorry Garret, the explosion fried the systems, we had to start over from scratch! It could take us two or three days to fix that. Then there's the problem with power. The main power cords were destroyed so we have to find an independent source of energy to power them. Not to mention all the times a necromorph attacked us. This may take a long time." Garret sighed and smoothed his hair back. "Just work as fast as you can…" The engineer nodded and cut communications. Garret looked over at Karen who was sitting on the ground near him. She looked up and smiled. _'She's completely oblivious to what's happening… all this sadness and yet she can still manage to smile…' _He smiled back tiredly and went back to monitoring the survivor's movements on the ship.

**Fossil and Bone**

Fossil and Bone had been searching every room in the living quarters when they had come across a lone survivor. She was covered in blood in her room and kept her head in her hands. On the floor next to her were the charred remains of a necromorph. She looked up when they walked in. "Go away! I don't need rescuing." She yelled at them. Fossil held up her hands and spoke in a soothing voice. "It's ok; we're not here to force you to come with us. We're looking for an Earth Gov official; do you know anyone like that?" The woman glared at them for a while. "Yeah, he lived a couple doors down with his wife and daughter. If that's all then go away!" She picked up a small flame thrower and aimed it at them.

Fossil backed up a step. "Alright, we'll go. But can you tell us why you're staying here?" She asked. The woman sighed and held her head with one of her hands. "Two days ago I came here looking for my husband. He was one of those things! I had to kill him!" She said. Fossil nodded. "Alright, we won't force you to come, but you'll be safer if you go to the security depot. A group of survivors are there protected by security." The woman shook her head. "No! Now leave!" She fired the pneumonic torch at the wall next to them. Fossil and Bone ran from the room.

"Ok… now that that's over with…" Bone said. He turned to leave and saw a man standing in one of the door ways. He was wearing a RIG with the word Gov written on the shoulder. "Hey look! There he is!" Bone said. Fossil turned to look at the man. "Please help! It's my daughter!" He yelled to them. Fossil frowned. They walked over and came into the room. He led them to the bed where a little girl was lying down. "She's been hurt really bad, can you help her?" He asked worriedly. "Wait, wait, wait, are there any other Earth Gov officials on board?" Bone asked. The man shook his head confused. "No, I'm the only one." Bone and Fossil looked at each other. "And this is your daughter, Karen?" He nodded his head vigorously. "Then who the fuck is back at the security depot?!" Fossil exclaimed.

**Security Depot**

Garret had just finished talking to a couple of security guards in Sector D when he noticed Karen was missing. He stood up and looked around worriedly. "Karen?" He called out. He looked around the room at the survivors; they all seemed to be gravitating to the left side of the room. He turned and looked to the right. Karen was sitting facing the wall. He sighed in relief and started to walk over. He was soon close enough to hear her singing. It sounded as though she had two voices. _"Ring around the rosey, a pocket full of Posy, ashes, ashes, the crew all dies." _He stopped behind her. "K-karen? Are you alright?" He asked. _"I'm fine mister Garret. Do you like death?" _She asked in that demonic voice. He backed up a pace. "N-no. Karen, are you sure you're feeling alright?" He asked. _"Oh garret, if you don't like death then why did you allow a marker to be brought on board. You're a MURDERER." _She screamed the last word and disappeared. The lights went out just then and Garret could hear necromorphs breaking through the vents into the crowd of people. People screamed and the security guards opened fire on the necromorphs. He turned on his flashlight and was just barely able to duck under a slash from one of them. He blasted off its arms and legs and ran for the door. "Everyone out now!" He yelled. He reached the door but it was glowing orange and wouldn't open. "Shit…" He turned and saw a vent that hadn't been blown open by a necromorph. He ran over and shot off the cover. He waved his flashlight in the air. "Over here! Come over here!" less and less people were screaming or yelling and soon none of the security guards were firing their weapons anymore. He growled in frustration and hopped into the vent. Behind him he could hear the necromorphs screaming and growling. He opened a link with the engineers. "Hey! There's no time, we're evacing now! Get to the medical bay. Those shuttles should still be working." The engineer on screen shook his head slowly and pointed off screen weakly. The screen turned to show a slasher repeatedly stabbing one of the engineers to death. "No, no, no!" He switched to communicate with all RIGs. "This is Garret, we need to evacuate the ship now! Get to the medical bay emergency transport ships and wait for further instruction. STAY AWAY FROM THE VENTS!" He said. Behind him he could hear something scrabbling into the vent. He turned and fired his pulse rifle at the necromorph that was coming at him.


	25. Chapter 25 heart problems

Stone peaked around the corner and down the hall. Two "dead" necromorphs were lying near a pile of bodies on the ground. He walked out, aimed, and fired his ARC welder at them. The necromorphs on the ground screamed and writhed on the ground until the force of the electricity blew them apart. He expelled the empty clip and loaded in a new one as he walked past the two, now actually dead, necromorphs. He contacted Isaac. "I'm almost to the engine room, what do the energy cores look like?" He asked. Isaac looked around a bit before responding in a whisper. "Can't talk now, I've got three unitologist soldiers on my tail. I'll contact you as soon as they're dead." Stone nodded and cut communications. He stepped over a dead body and it grabbed his ankle. "Whoa!" He aimed the ARC welder at its head. "Please!" The person said in a raspy voice. "You can't… g-go in there!" The man reached his other hand toward Stone's leg but he fell limp before he could make contact. Stone looked at the door nervously.

He walked over and opened the door to the engine room. It slid open slowly as if something was holding it in place. A fleshy pink material ripped as the door opened and spilled blood on the floor. He cautiously looked around inside and found two people merged into the stuff on the walls. He took a step inside and the stuff on the floor stuck to his boot. Isaac appeared on his screen. "I got them, what you're looking for is a sign that says power cores or energy cores. Below it should be ten handles arranged in a circle, pull five of them out and store them in your RIGs inventory. Then make your way back to the medical bay." He nodded and turned the screen. "Isaac, what is this stuff?" Isaac sighed. "That's the corruption, you may have a problem if that's covering any of the Cores, also if you see bodies merged into the wall shoot them, they're still alive." Stone cut communications and aimed his gun at one of them.

The stream of electricity caught the necromorph in the gut making it scream and writhe from the electrical impulses. A moment later it blew up in a bloody mess. The other one started moving and it slashed at him with long tentacles. He shot that one to death and made his way over to a large machine. On it was a sign that pointed down. It said, 'Energy cores' He looked down and saw it was covered in the corruption. He grabbed a handful and pulled. It ripped off and sent blood flying into the air. "Ugh… This is gross." He took another handful and pulled. After a while he was covered in blood and could see five handles. He pulled one of them out. The cylinder was a metal frame with five glowing blue sticks attached to it. He pulled out the other four and the light above him dimmed. He put them away and contacted Isaac. "I've got the cores, I hope this works." He said. Isaac nodded and gave him a route back to the medical bay.

**Hawkeye**

Hawkeye kicked the cover of the vent a couple times but it wouldn't budge. He figured it was because his chest hurt so badly. The excitement from the fire left his heart feeling like someone was beating it with a hammer. He clutched his chest in pain and aimed his gun at the cover instead. He only had one clip left and felt bad about using rounds but he had to if he wanted to get out of the ventilation system. He blasted off the cover and climbed out. To his left was a large door that read medical bay. To his right was a sign that pointed around the corner. It said food storage and security depot. He was about to go toward the food storage but then thought of his chest. He was still clutching his chest as he dragged the pulse rifle to the medical bay doors. He saw his reflection in a window and turned to look at his health bar. It was blinking red. He sighed and jumped in surprise when the bar went down slightly. "Holy shit! I'm dying!" He exclaimed. He quickly walked to the door and opened it. Four laser pointers instantly appeared on his chest. "Halt! Drop your weapon!" He dropped the pulse rifle and knelt down on his knees. "Please! I'm dying! I need medical attention!" One of the people walked over and looked at his health bar. "Jeeze! How are you still walking?!" He pulled a large med pack out of his pocket. "Take this. It'll help." Hawkeye gratefully used the health pack and instantly felt better. He stood up slowly and looked at his health bar. It was full but it dropped a little suddenly.

He picked up his pulse rifle and met with the four security guards. "We received orders from Garret to get to the medical bay. So far we're the only ones to show up." One of them said. Hawkeye nodded. "Well I need to look for the rest of my squad, if you can spare some pulse rifle ammo I'd be grateful." He said. One of the guards handed him three clips. "Use them sparingly, get back here as soon as you can." Hawkeye nodded and turned to leave. "Wait!" One of them called out. Hawkeye turned and the guard gave him a couple of med packs. "I don't know what's wrong with you, but those should keep you alive until you get back." Hawkeye nodded and thanked them. He left the room and walked toward the food storage area. He knew the others would be making their way toward that room. Hawkeye stopped and leaned against the wall. _'I hope they're all ok…'_


	26. Chapter 26 tripod

Twilight was silent and glum for the rest of the walk to the food storage area. They had tried several times to contact Hawkeye but all they got was static. Aqua walked next to her. "It'll be alright, Hawkeye's tough. He's probably killed the brute already and is waiting for us in the food storage area." She said. Twilight nodded sullenly and slowed down a little. Aqua frowned and looked to Ace for help. He shook his head and motioned to just keep walking. After a while of walking Garret appeared on all of their screens, _'This is Garret, we need to evacuate the ship now! Get to the medical bay emergency transport ships and await further instruction. STAY AWAY FROM THE VENTS!' _He then cut communications.

Steam checked their route. "We can reach the medical bay if we cut through food storage. We should just continue on the path we are on." He said. Ace nodded and turned to Twilight. "I need you to stay strong. Hawkeye may or may not be dead but it won't help if you give up completely. We can mourn his loss later." The lights dimmed suddenly. Garret appeared on all their screens again. _"Isaac! Is that you?! What did you do to the fucking power?!"_ another person appeared on screen. _"That wasn't me but it was necessary, my partner Stone took five of the energy cores. We need them to make a bomb powerful enough to destroy the marker."_ Garret glared at the screen. _"Fine! Don't cut any more power though, the doors won't open if there are less than three cores left." _Isaac nodded his head. _"Don't worry, we only needed the five." _The two disappeared from the screen.

"Come on, let's hurry." Ace said. They started to run to the food storage room. Twilight glanced down a hallway and saw a figure standing at the end. She stopped and watched him. The other three stopped and turned to look at her. "What is it Twi?" The figure turned slowly and looked at her. "Hawkeye!?" She called out in joy when she saw his face. The figure turned and walked down a different hallway. "Hawkeye! Wait!" She yelled. She ran after him. "Twilight!" Ace yelled. They started running after her. Twilight rounded the corner and saw him walking calmly through a set of doors. "Hawkeye! Come back!" She yelled after him. The cover of a vent next to her flew off the wall and landed with a crash on the ground.

Twilight jumped back and aimed her gun into the vent. A moment later Hawkeye stepped out. He jumped when he saw her. "Twilight!" He exclaimed. They stared at each other for a while before Twilight spoke. "But, you were… just…" She pointed to the door at the end of the hall. The other three rounded the corner and stopped when they saw Hawkeye. "Hawkeye? Is that you?" Steam asked. "Last time I checked, what did I miss?" He asked. Twilight looked back to Hawkeye and then to the door. "But you were just running through that door!" She exclaimed. He frowned at the door and put a hand on her shoulder. "Twilight, it's the real me." She nodded slowly.

**Stone**

Stone paused in the doorway to watch the conversation between Isaac and Garret. He smiled a little when they went away. He started to move again but a noise behind him made him stop. He turned to look behind him. A large three clawed hand came up over the back of the core machine. It grabbed onto the edge and pulled itself up. Another hand came up with a large gruesome head attached to a body. It had one tail like leg. "What the hay!" He backed up a pace, the corruption on the floor making it hard to move. The monster roared loudly. He turned and ran for the door but the corruption was making it hard to move.

The monster shot a long tentacle out of its mouth at him. He dove forward and rolled out the door. Behind him the tentacle ripped a huge hole in the corruption on the floor. The thing screeched again and pulled itself toward the door. Stone recovered his footing and started running as fast as he could down the hallway. "Isaac! What the hay is that!" He yelled into his RIG. Isaac could see the thing behind him. "Holy shit! That's a tripod! RUN FOR IT!" He yelled. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?!" Stone yelled back. The tripod smashed through the wall and door to chase him. He stumbled as he ran a little and had to push himself off the wall to continue running. He tripped over a severed limb but managed to regain his footing while still running. The tripod rushed through the hallway after him. The door ahead of him opened to reveal two unitologist soldiers. "RUN!" He yelled as he pushed past them. They dropped their pulse rifles and joined him in running.

The tripod shot its tentacle out of its mouth and slashed one of the soldiers in half. Blood spattered the walls and the two running men. The other unitologist soldier tripped and fell onto his face. The tripod crushed him under its foot and kept going after Stone. There was an open vent ahead of him. He ran up to the side wall and jumped to the side. He launched himself off the wall and into the vent. He skidded to a halt right at the intersection of two vent paths. "Whoa! Didn't think that would work!" He said. He quickly looked behind him when he heard a large crash. The tripod was ripping the wall apart to get to him! He started crawling furiously through the vents. The tentacle snaked around the corner toward his legs. Stone spun around and fired the ARC welder at it. The tentacle writhed from the energy being forced through it. When the clip ran out the tentacle quickly retracted. He started crawling again. Behind him a large three clawed hand smashed through the wall into the vent. It knocked him forward slightly and he stumbled a little. He kept crawling while the tripod smashed its hands into the vent system to try and smash him. Up ahead the vent branched off in two different directions. He went right and was thrown forward when the hand smashed through the vent directly behind him. He skidded halfway down the vent before he came to a stop. Behind him he could hear the tripod growl in frustration. He heard its pounding footsteps growing fainter as though the beast had given up. He lay down on the floor of the vent in relief. Stone contacted Isaac while panting heavily. "Isaac… I managed… to loose it!" He held his chest and could feel his heart beating through the thick material. "Oh god! I thought you were dead!" Isaac exclaimed. Stone shook his head and looked down the vent. He could see a place to get out of the vent ahead. "Alright, I'm coming to your location now. I've got the five energy cores." Isaac nodded and they cut communications. Stone slowly rolled over onto his stomach and raised himself up so he could crawl.


	27. Chapter 27 crude bomb

Fossil knelt down next Karen and looked her over. She was having trouble breathing and she was a sickly pale color. "I don't know what's wrong with her! She's too young to give a med pack and I can't move her and defend against the necromorphs…" Ron said in despair. Bone was standing at the door looking around outside. "We should bring her to the medical bay; we can get her some medicine there. We'll protect while you carry her." He said. Ron nodded and put a hand on the side of Karen's head. "Sweetie, I'm going to carry you alright?" She nodded weakly. He pulled back the covers and put his arms under her. He pulled his hands back hastily. "What the?!" He gently pushed her onto her side. There was a pair of wings on her back. "Oh jeeze…" He said. Fossil put a hand on his shoulder and made her wings spread out. "Don't worry, that's not what's wrong with her." He nodded and put his hands under her again. He lifted her up and propped her head up on his shoulder.

Bone stepped outside and made sure no one was in the halls. He noticed the woman from before walking toward him. "I… I changed my mind… I'll go with you." He nodded and stepped out of the way as Fossil stepped out followed by Ron and Karen. The woman went past Bone to follow Ron and Bone took up the rear. They walked carefully to the elevator and they all filed in. The elevator stopped and the door opened to reveal an extremely bloody room with two or three necromorphs walking amongst the corpses.

"Get behind us!" Bone yelled. He blocked the doorway and fired his pulse rifle at the creatures. Fossil blocked the rest of the doorway and fired as well. They downed the standing necromorphs and watched as one stood up from behind a pile of bodies and a puker crashed down from a vent. "Move!" Fossil yelled. Bone ran to the door with Ron and the woman behind him while Fossil shuffled to the side while firing at the puker.

Once Bone was at the door he opened fire on the slasher. The woman opened the door and fired her pneumonic torch at a slasher that was standing behind the door.

The puker went down and Fossil ran to the open door. She ran into the hall past the burning slasher and to the fork in the path. She turned left and right. On her right were two slashers; she quickly opened fire on them. Behind her Bone and the others ran past to the end of the hall. She stopped firing and ran after them. One of the slashers followed her around the corner only to have its head blown off from Bone's pulse rifle. It slashed the air blindly as they shuffle through the now open door. At the end of the hallway was the entrance to the medical bay.

"Hurry up!" Fossil led the group down the hall quickly and jumped out of the way when a vent near her burst open. A man in an engineer RIG stepped out of the vent and looked at the five of them. "Uh, hi?" He asked. Fossil recognized his voice. "Stone!" She exclaimed. He looked at her in surprise. "Fossil?! Bone?! Is it really you guys?!" He exclaimed. Behind them something put a huge dent into the door. "No time to talk! Let's go!" Bone exclaimed. The group of six ran down the hall to the medical bay doors. When it opened four laser pointers appeared on them. "Wait! We're human!" Ron called out. "Get down!" One of the guards yelled. They dropped to the ground and the four guards opened fire. Behind them four slashers had managed to bust open the door and had been running at them. The guards quickly took them down.

Ron stood when they stopped firing and took his daughter over to them. "Please! She needs medicine!" He pleaded. The guards looked at her. "We're not doctors!" One of them exclaimed. "How do you feel? Are you dizzy, tired, aching?" One of them asked. The other three looked at him. "My tummy feels funny… I can't see well…" Karen said. The guard nodded. "That sounds a lot like type ten asteroid disease." Ron looked at him funny. "What does that mean?! Is she in danger of dying?!" He asked. The guard shook his head and started rummaging through a cabinet. "It's a disease contracted when you breathe in asteroid dust. Type ten could cause blindness and digestive problems if not treated immediately. The types become more deadly the lower the number. Type one causes Pulmonary shock syndrome, severe internal bleeding, it pretty much shuts down your liver and kidneys, and in rare cases could put you into severe and sudden cardiac arrest." The guards stared at him. "How the fuck do you know all this?!" One of them asked. The guard pulled a vial and a syringe out of the cabinet. "I was a doctor before joining the guard. Do you think I'd join the guard without having a fall back plan?" He put the needle into the vial and filled the syringe half full. He walked over to Karen and pulled back one of her eyelids. Her eye was an angry red color. "Yup, type ten." He said. He pushed the needle into her eye and slowly pushed out half the liquid. He put the rest in the other eye.

"She'll be fine now. That'll stop the blindness and start the healing process of her digestive tract." Ron nodded. "Thank you." He said. He hugged Karen tightly. "Daddy. My eyes hurt." She complained. "It's alright sweetie, it'll go away. Fossil, Bone, and Stone walked off to the side. "Thank goodness you're alright! Wait… where's Digger?" Stone asked. Stone shook his head. They looked at the floor sadly. A door near them opened to reveal Isaac and Garret. "And I'm telling YOU, artificial pineapples are the best thing ever invented!" Garret shook his head. "No, no, no! You're so wrong! It's obviously solar apples! The way those things are cooked perfectly from solar energy!" He smiled and licked his lips. They looked around the room and saw the ten people. "Ah, only ten?" Garret shook his head sadly. "Better than none…" Isaac walked over to Stone. "Give me the power cores." Stone gave him the cores and watched as he strapped them together with duct tape. He attached some wire together and attached a remote to it. He then started taping pulse rifle clips to it.

A side door opened and five people in security RIGs walked in. Two of them jumped when they saw Fossil. "Marie?!" They took off their helmets. "Shane! Alex!" She exclaimed in surprise. The room was getting a little cramped with seventeen people in it. The five walked over and looked at the other two. "Stone and Bone?" Hawkeye asked. They nodded their heads. "Perfect! We came to rescue you guys." He said. Isaac yelled in triumph when his bomb was finished. He held the heavy device up. It was a very bulky bomb with two ARC welder clips on either end. A remote was hanging off it. He typed something into it and 1:00 appeared on the screen. "As soon as I press the green button it will begin countdown. Then we can blow that marker back to hell!" He exclaimed. He had Stone help him carry it into the large medical ship. Everyone filed into the ship and took seats away from the door. "Garret, fly us to the glowing red area." Isaac said. Garret nodded and pressed a few buttons. The ship jolted forward then smoothly started rising into the air.


	28. Chapter 28 the end?

**The ship**

The medical ship flew toward the glowing red area slowly. All around the ship people were quiet. In the back sat Ron and Karen. They grimly sat waiting for the bomb to be dropped. The four guards sat in random areas looking at the floor quietly. The woman pulled a music box out of her pocket and opened it up. Inside was a picture of her and a man, they were standing with their arms around each other smiling at the camera. The music box played a slow sad tune. Hawkeye kept an arm around Twilight's shoulder. Twilight was leaning her head against his shoulder. Stone and Isaac waited at the closed door to push the bomb out once they were over the marker. Ace stood with his back against a wall with Fossil standing next to him. On their left sat Bone and Steam. In front sat Garret and Aqua. Garret silently flipped a couple of switches. A screen appeared in front of him.

**The USG Harrier**

Inside the speaker system turned on. _"This is officer Garret of the USG Harrier. If you are still alive and hearing this then stay where you are. We are going to destroy the marker. If everything goes according to plan the destruction of the marker should kill all the necromorphs. The total number of crew stationed on the USG Harrier was five thousand, four hundred and thirty seven. Of those five thousand, only three hundred and forty-five survived the crash. Of the three hundred and forty-five only fifty seven made it to the security depot alive. Of those fifty seven only I survived. Sixteen more crew members made it to the medical bay on time. This is officer Garret of the USG Harrier asking you not to loose hope." _ The word hope echoed down the halls of the Harrier.

**Civilian group from engineering**

The small group stood on top of the Harrier looking out over the city. The corpses of several necromorphs surrounded them. They all faced the glowing red lights and saluted. A moment later there was a large flash. The flash turned into a mushroom cloud and a shock wave sent loose stones up from the ground. The shock wave weakened before it reached the group and only felt like a strong wind to them. The mushroom cloud stayed for a while then started to dissipate. Around them the necromorphs began turning into a blue sludge. The leader turned to the small group and nodded. "Let's go back inside. We'll try to contact anyone else that's alive." They nodded and the group made their way back into the ship.

**The surface**

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Prince Blue Blood, Shinning Armor, and Princess Cadence stood watching the open pit in the ground. The ground shook violently and a couple of miles off the ground collapsed. They heard a loud bang and smoke began rising from the new hole. Shinning took a step forward in shock. "Twilight…" He whispered. Cadence walked up next to him and stood with him. The shaking subsided and the small group stood near the crack for a while. A couple of guards flew up out of the crack. "Those creatures are all turning into a strange blue sludge. Whatever they did killed them all off." Princess Celestia nodded. "Get everypony back up. We are returning to the castle now." The guards saluted and flew back down into the crack.


	29. Chapter 29 fate

Rose closed the journal. "That's all she wrote. I heard she was rescued but…" Lily nodded slowly. "Wow. That's really creepy." Rose nodded and smiled. "However, Hawkeye wrote a report about everything that happened when they returned to the castle." Jonathan looked at her in surprise. "How did you get a hold of something like that?!" She smiled evilly. "Have you ever heard of the one eyed thief?" She asked. Gold nodded his head. "Yeah, he was publicly executed twenty years ago. They pronounced him dead but his corpse disappeared from the morgue." Lily nodded. "Yup, though some ponies think he was actually a unicorn and he somehow saved himself from being hung and that's why he wore that head thing during his execution." Rose nodded. "Silver Mask is the one eyed thief." She said. Jonathan jumped. "But, he's still alive!" She nodded. "I made him teach me how to sneak around. That's how I got the report." She held up three pages of paper. "This is where things get very interesting!" She said. She started reading from the report.

**Around a mile away from ground zero**

As the dust slowly settled a small quivering purple sphere could be seen. It shimmered a little then went out completely. The dust settled completely and the medical ship could be seen. Inside the ponies started to become conscious. Twilight was lying on the ground looking up and at the ceiling when she awoke. She sat up groggily and rubbed her head with her hoof. She looked at her hoof and smiled. Her RIG had also transformed to fit a pony. She looked around at the others. They were all ponies as well. She looked to her left and found Hawkeye staring up at the ceiling. She frowned and shook him. He didn't move. "Hawkeye? Hawkeye! HAWKEYE!" She shook him but he wouldn't move. His chest wasn't rising. She suddenly became aware of a quiet flat line noise coming from his RIG.

The others woke up and saw her cradling Hawkeye in her arms crying. The four security guards, Garret, Ron, and the woman were looking at themselves in wonder at their transformation. Ace quickly sat down next to Twilight and looked Hawkeye over. He shook his head and ran his hoof over Hawkeye's face to close his eyes. Aqua and Steam walked over and sat with them sadly.

**…?**

Hawkeye awoke suddenly. He was staring straight up into a white nothingness. He sat up and looked down at himself. He was a pony again, his RIG had also changed to form around his body. He looked around and found the place he was in was white everywhere. He heard someone walking up behind him. He turned to look at an alicorn with dark red hair and a bright red mane walking toward him. His cutie mark was a pair of scissors and a thread in between them. "Greetings Hawkeye." He said. His voice was deep and smooth. Hawkeye stared at him for a bit. "W-where are we?" He asked. The alicorn shook his head. "This is where everything that dies starts out. When they get hungry they may think of food and it will appear before them. After a while they'll figure out that whatever they think of will materialize. Humans call it heaven, but it's simply a waiting area. After about ten years here the dead being is transported to a different dimension, their memories are erased, and they begin anew." The alicorn said. Hawkeye looked around. "So… I'm dead?" He asked. The alicorn nodded. "Yes, you went into severe cardiac arrest after the bomb exploded. You died nearly instantly. You should have kept an eye on your RIG's health bar." He said. Hawkeye nodded and looked around.

He turned back to the alicorn. "So… if this is what humans call heaven, are you what humans call god?" He asked. The alicorn nodded his head. "Yes. But my real name is fate. You may have met me as a human before you came to Equestria, though I doubt you would remember my face." Hawkeye nodded slowly. "So… why are you here Fate?" He asked. Fate smiled. "I'm here because it's not your time to die. There is more you must do in Equestria. It's because of the marker you died. The markers were created by my counterpart, Chaos, to spite me. Fortunately there are people like Isaac to destroy them as they are discovered." Hawkeye nodded. "What is it I have to do still?" He asked. Fate shook his head. "Unfortunately I cannot tell you. Now it's time to wake up. Wake up. Wake up." His voice started sounding feminine. "Wake up. Wake up… Wake up…" The world went black and the voice started sounding like Twilights.

"Please! Wake up…" Twilight sobbed. "Wake up wake up wake up." The others sat quietly around her. The flat line noise stopped and a noise like liquid filling a cup could be heard. A moment later Hawkeye started breathing and opened his eyes. He looked around groggily. "Ugh… I had the strangest dream…" Twilight gasped. "Hawkeye!" She exclaimed she hugged him fiercely. "Hey there Twi." He said softly. He weakly put one of his hoofs around her. The others cried out in surprise and a large group hug ensued. "Agh, you guys are crushing me!" Hawkeye exclaimed.


	30. Chapter 30 the end

Shinning armor and Cadence stayed at the entrance to the underground city until nightfall. Shinning shook his head slowly and turned to walk away. Cadence stood and followed him. She stopped when she heard faint voices. "Do you hear that?" She asked. Shinning stopped and listened. The voices were getting a little clearer. "Yeah, is there somepony down there?" He wondered out loud. They walked over to the crevice and looked down. At the bottom was a large group of ponies. Most of them were wearing strange metal armor. One was climbing up the rope. The two took a step back when the pony reached the top.

The pony looked at them steadily but it wore a helmet. They couldn't see who it was. The pony turned to the crack. "All clear! Come on up." They didn't recognize the voice. The pony turned back to them and he took off his helmet. He shook his head a little and nodded at the two ponies. "My name is Garret. There's about thirty of us, is there a city near by?" He asked. Cadence nudged Shinning when he didn't respond. "Oh! Ah, yes… is a pony named Twilight down there?" Garret nodded his head. Another pony came up carrying a filly. He walked over a little ways away from the crack and set her down.

Pony after pony came up the rope until no pony was left. Twilight ran over to her brother and hugged him. Hawkeye slowly came up and lay down near the edge of the crack. "Oooh… I feel so tired…" He said. Ace came up followed by Steam and Aqua. Hawkeye stood up and waked over to Shinning. "Got her back in one piece, just like I said I would." Shinning nodded. Cadence kissed Hawkeye on the cheek. "Thank you for making sure she was safe. He backed up a step stunned. Twilight walked over and rubbed her cheek on his cheek. "Yeah, thanks." She said. He blushed a little and shuffled his feet. Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up from the crowed. "This deserves a party!" She exclaimed. Twilight stared at her in surprise. "When did you get here?!" Pinkie shrugged and walked over to them. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Quick Shot, and Maelstrom walked out of the crowed as well. "We came when the princess told us about what happened." Quick Shot said. Ace and Hawkeye walked over to him. "Oh god. You have no idea how happy I am to see you!" Ace said. "Fate…" Hawkeye muttered. "What?" Ace asked. He shook his head.

**Canterlot  
**The princesses stood in front of their thrones to address the ponies. "Well done you five. You not only managed to save the three remaining archaeologists, you saved almost thirty ponies along with them! Though I have no idea how they got down there…" She walked down from the raised thrones and levitated five medals after her. She stopped in front of Hawkeye. "Hawkeye, you are a born leader. If you continue on this way we'll run out of medals to give you." He smiled as she put the medal around his neck. She stepped over to Ace. "Ace, you are a great soldier. I'm disappointed you won't join the royal guard." He shook his head and she put the medal around his neck. She stepped over to Steam. "Steam, you did excellently even though your leg is the way it is. It saddens me that you resigned." He smiled proudly as she put the medal around his neck. She stepped over to Aqua. "Aqua, Hawkeye has told me much of you." She put the medal around her neck and moved on. Aqua looked to Hawkeye confused. He shrugged just as confused as her. She stopped in front of Twilight. "My most faithful student. Did you learn anything on your adventure? I'm looking forward to what you have to write about this." Hawkeye spoke up. "Actually that's my job. Shinning insists I write a report on what happened." Ace snickered. Princess Celestia smiled at him and put the medal around Twilight's neck.

Twilight and Hawkeye were the last out of the throne room. Waiting outside was Shinning and Cadence. "Hello you two. You look terrible." Shinning said. Cadence nudged him. "Oh! Ah, sorry…" Hawkeye laughed. "I should write that report soon or I'll forget about it." Hawkeye said. Twilight grabbed his shoulder. "Wait." She turned to Shinning. "There's something I should tell you…" She said. "You and Hawkeye are dating." He said. She looked at him surprised. "How did you know?!" Shinning grinned. "Oh come on Twily, you don't think I know when two ponies are in love? You two are also very bad at hiding it." She shook her head smiling. "Are you going to blow off my crotch like you threatened Steam?" Hawkeye asked. Shinning laughed and shook his head.

Hawkeye and Twilight walked off toward Hawkeye's room. They both went inside, Hawkeye sat at his desk while Twilight lay down on his bed. "Ugh, I'm going to take a nap." Twilight said. Hawkeye grinned and turned to write the report. He wrote for until it was too dark to see by outside then blew out the candle on his desk and carefully lay down next to Twilight. She stirred slightly but didn't wake up. He fell asleep after a little bit.

**Isaac Clarke**

Isaac disappeared from the group after they made it out of the crevice. Hawkeye later found a note from Fate explaining Isaac was needed elsewhere. The hole and crack magically sealed itself as well.

**Ron and Karen**

They stayed in the castle for a while before moving to the new town of Harrier. The town was made for the survivors of the USG Harrier. Ron became the mayor of the town and Karen recovered from her illness. The first thing she asked when she was well again was, "Mommy's dead, isn't she." Ron answered truthfully. She accepted the fact and moved on. (Pretty good for a four – five year old eh?)

**The woman from civilian quarters**

She moved to Harrier when it was finished. She opened a small bakery named the music box. It wasn't very successful but made enough money to stay open.

**Civilian group from engineering**

They moved to Harrier when it was finished.

**Guard who went to medical school**

He became Harrier's doctor.

**The other three guards**

They became Harrier's police force.

**Garret**

Garret disappeared along with Isaac. Fate left a note explaining this as well.

**Stone**

Stone disappeared along with Garret and Isaac. Fate left a note explaining this as well.

**Fossil and Bone**

They married and moved to Harrier. Fossil visited Hawkeye occasionally.

**Ace**

Ace returned to Ponyville to continue teaching martial arts.

**Aqua**

Aqua returned to Manehatten.

**Steam**

Steam returned home to Rarity. A month later Golden necklace was born.

**Hawkeye and Twilight**

Hawkeye and Twilight were married three weeks after returning to Canterlot. They lived together happily.


	31. Chapter 31 epilouge

**Hawkeye's report**

_Upon entering the crevice we were attacked by strange creatures called necromorphs. They killed the five guards that were accompanying us. We managed to escape them and found the USG Harrier, a large ship. Inside were more necromorphs and survivors. There was no sign of the missing archaeologists at that point._

_A couple of guards found us and brought us to the main group of survivors where we met Garret. He let us help by killing necromorphs. We were split up at one point but I found my way back to the group. We met up with the three missing archaeologists and some other things ensued. You wouldn't believe me if I told you._

_I died actually. Apparently you go to a completely white place where whatever you imagine appears when you die. An alicorn named Fate revived me and we made our way out of the crevice. My opinion is to make sure no pony can get back into those caves._

(the next two pages are filled with drawings of necromorphs.)

**20 years in the future**

Rose put away the report. "And that's all there is." The others looked at her skeptically. "You made this up didn't you…" Gold asked. She shook her head and raised her hoof. "I swear to Fate I'm telling the truth." Lily shook her head. "Whatever. False or not I thought it was creepy." Jonathan and Tide nodded their heads. The four ponies left a while later leaving Rose alone. She made sure they were gone and pulled out a small device. She turned it on and Garret appeared. _"This is my last transmission from the USG Harrier. We have been through a ton of shit on this ship that I hope no one else has to go through. *sigh* We managed to destroy the marker… but who knows how many more of them there are… The USG Harrier held a crew of five thousand four hundred and thirty seven. Of them only three hundred forty five survived the crash. Of those three hundred only twenty four made it off the ship alive. If you are watching this then know this. The markers must be destroyed!" _She smiled and put the device away. "Oh Garret, if only you knew." Her eyes turned red. "If only you knew."


End file.
